Welcome to new HHH board member Manon Parry
Dr Manon Parry, Professor of Medical and Nursing History at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has just joined the HHH board after Prof. Frank Huisman retired this September. In the text below, Manon introduces herself and her work. We look forward to working together with her on new events and activities.
Manon Parry
I am originally from the UK but completed my training as an historian of medicine in the USA, where I began my career as an exhibition curator at the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health on the outskirts of Washington D.C. My first book traced the use of media in the history of family planning promotion in America and in the global “population control” movement, from the era of silent film and radio through to animated films, television, and multimedia campaigns in the early years of HIV/AIDS. The exhibitions I developed explored a wide range of topics, from medicinal and recreational drug use, to disability in the American Civil War, and the history of global health. Traveling versions have visited more than 300 venues in America with some also displayed in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Guam, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and some remain on tour today. My current research builds on this experience and focuses on the collection and interpretation of medical heritage in European medical museums, as well as the uses of history and heritage for health and wellbeing. Since moving to The Netherlands ten years ago I have continued to develop public projects, such as Voices for the Past, a film of interviews with health care professionals and people living with HIV reflecting on the early years of HIV in The Netherlands, and DisPLACE, an accessible digital platform for disability history. As well as teaching and supervising students at the University of Amsterdam, since 2018, I have been appointed as Professor of Medical History at VU Amsterdam, where I have expanded history of medicine education to explore broader connections with the Health Humanities. On 4 October 2023, at a symposium marking thirty years of the Florence Nightingale Institute, the next phase of this work will be launched with a new five year term as professor of Medical and Nursing History, acknowledging a growing range of activities I collaborate on with FNI and V&VN around the past, present, and future of nursing.
Read more about Manon Parry’s appointment as Professor of Medical and Nursing History here.
