Elizabeth Matilda Tansey OBE FMedSci FRCP (known as Tilli) is an Emerita Professor of the history of medicine and former neurochemist, best known for her role in the Wellcome Trust's witness seminars. She previously[when?] worked at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).[1]
Tilli Tansey | |
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Born | Elizabeth Matilda Tansey |
Alma mater | University of Sheffield (BSc, PhD, Hon MD) University of London (PhD) |
Known for | Witness seminars |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Neuroscience History of science History of medicine |
Institutions | Queen Mary University of London University College London |
Theses |
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Website | iris |
Tansey was educated at the University of Sheffield where she was awarded a PhD in 1978[2] for histochemical studies of the brain in cephalopods. After switching fields from neuroscience[3] to the history of science, she was awarded a second PhD in the history of science for her research on the early career of the nobel laureate Henry Hallett Dale.[4]
Between 2012 and 2017, she was head of the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, on a five-year research project funded by the Wellcome Trust titled The Makers of Modern Biomedicine: Testimonies and Legacy, to record oral testimonies from those who have contributed significantly to modern medical sciences.[5][6][7]
Tansey's Witness Seminar series, held at the Wellcome Trust Centre, had the aim of bringing together medical professionals, scientists and technicians in group discussions, with the purpose of learning about significant periods in the history recent medicine.[8][9][10] Topics covered have included oral contraceptives, genetic testing, and post-penicillin antibiotics.[8]
Tansey is an honorary member of The Physiological Society.[16] In 2015, at the centenary of women's membership of the Physiological Society, Tansey received the Paton prize and presented her prize lecture entitled Maude, Nettie, Ghetel and George, a study of some women married to early nineteenth century Physiological Society members.[17][13][18]
In 2017 she was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.[19]
Media related to Tilli Tansey at Wikimedia Commons