The course provides students with an overview of early modern and contemporary history of European medicine. Although the course provides students with a traditional chronological exposition on the history of medicine from the end of the Medieval Age to the 20th century, it is mostly organized by problem-oriented narratives. The course demonstrates that history of medicine is based not only on biographies or institutional histories. It presents the history of medicine as a component of a broader horizon outlined by social context, politics, emerging philosophical ideas, health policies, history of education, race, bio-medicine etc. The course is co-taught by three professors, experts in particular topics and consists of in-class lectures complemented by excursions to Prague health facilities.

Hana Mášová

Assistant Professor at the Institute for the History of Medicine, First Medical Faculty, Charles University. Dr. Mášová studied history at the Charles University (MA). She continued for her PhD in history at the Faculty of Arts (2003 Ph.D., dissertation The Role of Hospitals in Public Health Care and Social Welfare Policy of the 1st CSR) and psychotherapy at the First Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague. Since 1998 she is member of the Institute for the History of Medicine (Assistant Professor). She specializes in the history of medicine, namely in history of medicine in the modern Czechoslovakia. In 2005 she published a monograph "The Issue of Hospitals in Interwar Czechoslovakia" and two more book titles in cooperation with her colleagues.

Karel Černý

Assistant Professor, Deputy Director of the Institute for History of Medicine and Foreign Languages, First Medical Faculty, Charles University. After MA study of cultural history, Dr. Černý continued his PhD study at the First Medical Faculty, Charles University. Following his experience an archivist in State regional Archive in Klatovy, he joined the Institute for History of Medicine and Foreign Languages at the First Medical Faculty, Charles University (Assistant Professor), where he was recently appointed Deputy Director of the Institute. History of medicine and of religious communities in Bohemia and Moravia are the foci of his research.

Petr Svobodný

Director of the Institute of the History of Charles University and Archive of Charles University, Associate professor at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. Main fields of Dr. Svobodný’s research are history of universities, history of sciences and humanities, history of medicine and health. He serves on several editorial boards and he is an editor-in-chief of Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Historia Universitatis Carolinae Pragensis. Among other affiliations, he is the president of the Society for the History of Sciences and Technology of the Czech Republic and the vice president of the Czech National Committee of the History of Science.