Steven Palmer, Canada Research Chair in History of International Health, organized this week’s conference on Knowledge Networks and Health Innovation.
A fruitful collaboration with an old friend and colleague has led to an award-winning book and a chance for history professor Steven Palmer to host his co-author, a world leader in the history of science and medicine, during the Knowledge Networks and Health Innovation in the North and South Americas conference this week in Detroit.
Dr. Palmer and Marcos Cueto, a senior fellow at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute (Fiocruz), recently received the book prize from the Health, Science and Technology section of the Latin American Studies Association for their book, Medicine and Public Health in Latin America.
The prize comes just as Palmer is set to host the Canada Research Chair capstone conference, which received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connections grant of $25,000. The conference is an international joint colloquium, co-sponsored by the University of Windsor and the University of Michigan’s Brazil Initiative and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. It will take place this Wednesday and Thursday, April 13 and 14, at the University of Michigan’s Detroit Conference Center.
“Among the nicest things about this book, aside from getting to work with a world leader in the history of science and medicine like Cueto, is that I have known him since we were both doctoral students at Columbia University,” Palmer says. “He was a few years ahead of me in the program then, has been a great supporter of my work throughout my career, and it’s a thrill and an honour to win the prize with him, and also to host him here next week for a major talk on global health.”
The book award committee calls the pair’s book a remarkable contribution to its field of study, providing the first comprehensive historical survey of medicine and public health in Latin America from the pre-Columbian era to the present.
Dr. Cueto will give the keynote address, “Lost in Translation? Brazil, AIDS, Anti-retrovirals, the World Health Organization and Global Health, 1996-2005,” at 3:45 p.m., Wednesday, April 13.
Besides Palmer, UWindsor presenters include professors Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, Stephen Pender and Jennifer Willet, and history students Salma Abumeeiz, Kyle Lariviere, and Kayla Dettinger. Find a full program on the conference website.