Welcome

Welcome to the University Institute of the History of Medicine and Public Health at Lausanne.

The Institute belongs to the Department of medicine and public health community (DUMSC, Hospices/CHUV). On the academic level it is part of the Faculty of Biology  and Medicine of the University of Lausanne.

The Institute has the task to develop research and teaching in the social, cultural, conceptual history of medicine and biological sciences, as well as in social studies and cultural mediation of medicine and sciences.

Research
Research fields focus on the relationship between medicine and society, between physician and patient and on the development of the prevailing ideas and concepts in medicine. Research areas which have a particularly strong position are ancient medicine, medicine of the modern period and the Enlightenment, the history of psychiatry  and neurosciences, the history of hospital systems, of social insurances, professional categories involved in medical treatment, of the legal and ethical framework of medicine.

Teaching
Teaching is aimed at  different categories, on the undergraduate level (regular courses for students in the faculty of medicine, occasional teaching for students in other faculties or professional schools), graduate level (individual programmes for Phd students in medicine, human sciences, occasional specialized programs) and for continuous training.

Library and archive
The Institute does not only organize courses, conferences and exhibitions and publishes scholarly works. It also offers scholars and the public a library and an archive specialized in the history of medicine and more generally in the human sciences in medicine, in ethics and in philosophy of medicine. It also possesses audiovisual archives and documents as well as collections of instruments and technical devices.

In addition the institute publishes twice a year a newsletter (pdf, 780 k) informing on its activities, seminaries and conferences.

Founded in 1989, the Institute was headed by Mr. G. Saudan until 1993 then by Prof. J.J. Dreifuss. Since 1995, it has been taken in charge by Vincent Barras, ordinary Professor at the University of Lausanne.