Welcome to new HHH board member Hieke Huistra
Dr. Hieke Huistra, historian of science and medicine at Utrecht University, has recently joined the HHH board, as Rina Knoeff is leaving the board in the upcoming period. In the following text, Hieke introduces herself and her research. We are excited to collaborate with her on upcoming events and initiatives!
Hieke Huistra
I am looking forward to joining the HHH board – I can still remember the series of meetings in which the idea for HHH first emerged, and I am happy to now, in this new role, contribute to maintaining the thriving community it has become.
I have worked in history of medicine ever since my PhD at Leiden University (completed in 2013), which was about that university’s nineteenth-century anatomical collections. Currently, I am working on the related topic of the use of donated bodies in twentieth-century medicine and on the slightly less related topic of history of childbirth. I am also interested in themes such as history of fatness, medicalization, history of death and dying (particularly in Dutch euthanasia practices), and doctor-patient interactions.
Throughout my career, I have always tried to also reach to audiences who do not necessarily read academic research articles. My first steps into the history of science (back when I was still a physics students) were as an intern in the Utrecht museum and observatory Sonnenborgh, where I helped prepare a new exhibition. Later, I worked with other museums as well. Since 2019 I write a biweekly column for Dutch newspaper Trouw on ‘how science works’. I am also a member of the editorial board of the Dutch history of science glossyWonderkamer, and will later this year become one of the two co-editors-in-chief of Wonderkamer.
Institutionally, I am part of the Freudenthal Institute and the Descartes Centre at Utrecht University. Here, I teach research integrity to master students and PhD candidates in the natural sciences. I am also one of the university’s two confidential advisors for research integrity.
