On July 3, the first academic annual conference of the Medical Social History Committee of the Society of Chinese Social History “Medical Social History in China” kicked off on Jinnan campus, Nankai University. The conference was co-organized by the Society of Chinese Social History, the History College of Nankai University, and the Key Research Center of Social History of China at Nankai University. More than 200 experts and scholars from 107 universities and research institutes, such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the Institute for the History of Natural Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and Fudan University, attended the conference.

Dr. Wang Xinsheng, Vice President of Nankai University, Dr. Liang Qizi, Chair Professor of the University of Hong Kong and Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Dr. Zhang Daqing, Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology attended the conference and delivered speeches.

The participants exchanged opinions on eight topics, including “the research frontier and theoretical exploration of medical social history”, “medicine, society and culture”, “foundation and evolution of modern healthcare mechanisms”, “social and cultural history of diseases”, “medicine, society, and culture”, “the formation and evolution of healthcare knowledge”, “healthcare practices, institutions and resources through history”, and “healthcare providers, techniques and equipment,  and diagnosis and treatment”. A round-table discussion was also held on the topic of “Medical Social History in China”.

Dr. Yu Xinzhong, Dean of the History College of Nankai University, was elected as the chairman of the Medical Social History Committee. Professor Ding Jianmin, Associate Dean of the History College, was elected as the General Secretary.

(Reported by Jiemei Zhu, Photographed by Junhui Wu, Translated and edited by Nankai News Team, Xinghua Li and Yao Zhang.)