Dr Sarah Naramore
Lecturer in Nineteenth-century US History
Address
- Street
-
Room G.211, William Robertson Wing, Doorway 3, Old Medical School
- City
- Post code
Availability
Drop-in Hours Thursdays 11:00-13:00
Background
Originally from New York State, I am a historian of the United States and the history of medicine. As an undergraduate I completed degrees in both history and biology at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania (2012). Following that, I completed my PhD at the University of Notre Dame in the History and Philosophy of Science Program (2018).
After completing my PhD, I taught US history at the University of the South (Sewanee) and Northwest Missouri State University. I started my position as a lecturer at Edinburgh in 2025.
Undergraduate teaching
- Course Contributor HIST08045 History of the United States
- Course Organizer HIST 10534 The Public's Health in 19th Century America
- Pathway Tutor Historical Skills and Methods I
- Pathway Tutor Historical Skills and Methods II
- Dissertation Supervisor
Postgraduate teaching
- Pathway Tutor Developing Historical Research
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Research summary
Broadly-speaking I am interested in the history of the American medical and public health professions from the end of the American Revolution to the early twentieth century. By doing so my work not only intersects with the histories of science and medicine, but also addresses major changes in American culture, society, and environments during the long nineteenth century.
Current research interests
My current project is exploring the way in which endemic iodine deficiency and goiters shaped key concepts in American medicine and sense of place. For almost 150 years Americans worried about endemic goiter on their frontiers and increasingly evident “goiter belt” stretching from the Great Lakes to Washington State. Associated with mountains and mental degeneracy, the possibility of widespread American goiter in unexpected regions encouraged continued research, discussion of experimental treatments, and ultimately shared public-private health campaigns to prevent the illness in affected places. This project will explore how and why this endemic disorder preoccupied physicians, scientists, and the general public before disappearing into obscurity after World War II. In doing so it intersects with emerging notions of health, medical geography, heredity, and womanhood over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Past research interests
My first book project examined the life and work of American physician Benjamin Rush (1745-1813). I argue that Rush's varied interests as physician, politician, and even perhaps philosopher, were not inherently separate but rather part of the same project to create a healthy and successful republic. In doing so he both borrowed from the past and set the tenor for the future of American medical practice, professional identity, and public-facing science.Past project grants
W. Bruce Fye Medical History Research Travel Grant (2025)
Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Research Fellowship (2022-2023)