Conducted in association with the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at the University College London (UK), the three-day conference (November 15-17) is being held at the Indian Merchants' Chamber.

“Medicine is an intensely social phenomenon and so the history of medicine and social responses can be of immense help to policymakers. I hope that through this event it becomes stronger in Mumbai. We need to develop capacity locally or else the discipline won't grow,” said Sanjoy Bhattacharya, reader in the history of medicine at the Wellcome Trust Centre.

The Wellcome Trust Centre is a premier research institute for the history of medicine. It also plays a prime role in fostering public understanding of the subject through teaching and training.

“The concept of history of medicine is growing in the city and encompasses urban issues, public health, medicine marketplace, alternative therapies, veterinary medicine, pharma industry etc. The scope is tremendous and the conference can stimulate interest among all stakeholders like doctors, students, scholars and policymakers,” said Mridula Ramanna, reader and head of history department at SIES College.

Ramanna and Bhattacharya also stressed the tremendous scope of research provided by the Maharashtra state archives and how such studies can be used in the current context.

The conference will help participants understand the significance of the history of medical sciences. It is aimed at providing new insights on important international developments in the discipline and effective ways of teaching and conducting research.

Tony Woods and Elizabeth Shaw of the Wellcome Trust will also touch upon the medical humanities within the trust and funding opportunities for scholars based outside the UK. The event is also intended to help introduce Indian scholars to other scholars attached to smaller trust-funded units in the UK.

The event will cover a range of topics — the problems of trying to translate unfamiliar medical concepts; the national body: disease and literature in the modern colonial period with particular reference to leprosy; systems of medicine: policy and responses in Mumbai. “Medical history is training in sensibility towards peoples' understanding of illnesses and helps in improving communication and can be used for effective public health policies,” said Guy Attewell from the University College London.