Overview
I am interested in the medical history of the early modern British empire, with a focus on the cultural history of blood and other bodily fluids. My research is centered around a series of xenotransfusion (between sheep and men) experiments in England and France in 1692, and the subsequent absence of any blood transfusions in British medicine until the 18th century. I trace the anxieties British colonists felt while they struggled to maintain contained “British bodies” amidst the constant physiological mixing between themselves, animals, and foreigners that was inherent to settler colonial realities.
Before Cornell, I received a MA degree in Public History from Rutgers-Camden University. I also worked as a public history professional in Philadelphia at sites including The Woodlands, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Christ Church Burial Ground. When not drowning in scholarship, I am usually sewing, knitting, writing horror fiction, or paying tribute to The Morrigan and Jabberwocky, my cats.
Advisor: Suman Seth