The history of healthcare

Understanding the past to create a better healthcare system today.

Why focus on the history of healthcare?

In the 1970's, the history of healthcare was an understudied discipline in Canada. We set out to change that because we saw its importance as a source of lessons that could positively shape Canadian healthcare.

Since then-and with the help of many partners-we've worked to elevate its standing in the academic community and beyond. Today, the study of the history of healthcare is thriving across our country.

We are Canada's main source of support for the history of healthcare.

history

We have two funding streams to support your work in this field:

Hannah chairs

We established five Hannah Chairs in the History of Healthcare at Ontario Faculties in the 1970's as a tribute to our founder, Dr. Jason Hannah. In 1999, seven Hannah Chairs were endowed in perpetuity by AMS and their host universities. Today, eight Hannah Chairs priortize the history of healthcare in healthcare education, giving students a greater understanding of Canada's medical past.

Research grants and fellowships

In 2015, we launched funding for work on the history of healthcare. We provide it directly, through partnerships, or via organizations that administer the application process. Our goal is to raise interest in the topic, broaden the scope of research, and shape how the subject is taught. Funding is available to researchers, healthcare professionals, and students.

Amazing people are advancing this work

Efrat Gold

Post Doctoral Fellow, York University ; 2022 AMS Project Grant Recipient

“As an early career scholar, AMS support has allowed me to materialize my research and contribute to my field. By recognizing the value of my project to Mad people’s history in Canada, AMS funding has facilitated my ability to make meaningful scholarly connections and pursue an academic career.  This support has helped build my confidence…

Lucy Vorobej

AMS Fellow in Residence for Healthcare History & Interdisciplinary Exchange ; 2021 AMS Doctoral Completion Award Recipient

“The historian of medicine community in Canada would not be where it is today without AMS. Through AMS’ support and scholarly community, I have developed the skills to contribute meaningfully to historical inquiry and to the future of health care. Through AMS’ support, I was able to examine the often-overlooked histories of volunteer hospital labour, revealing how gendered norms shaped the valuing of health care work. I have also investigated the development and implementation of First Nations health policy during Canada’s post-war integration period, tracing how ideas of race and the aims of settler colonialism shaped jurisdictional debates, constrained health services, and limited partnership with. As a result, I am more convinced than ever that histories of health provide essential grounding for understanding, questioning, and adapting in our collective efforts to deliver the best possible care.”

Eric Story

Adjunct Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University ; 2023 AMS Post-Doctoral Fellow

“Support from AMS has allowed me to pursue award-winning research in the field of medical history. It has fundamentally shaped my early academic career. I would not be where I am today without it.”

Featured projects and resources

Nurses as change agents for a better future in health care: the politics of drift and dilution


This paper takes the 70th Anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom as an opportunity to reflect upon the strategic direction of nursing policy and the extent to which nurses can realise their potential as change agents in building a better future for health care. As published in Health Economics, Policy…

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Competition in healthcare: Lessons from the UK’s experience


Learn about competition as it relates to healthcare in the United Kingdom. Understand the impact of health policy reforms on the quality, productivity, and distribution of healthcare resources across socio-economic groups.

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Why policy needs history (and historians)


Policy makers like the idea of new initiatives and fresh starts, unencumbered by, even actively overthrowing, what has been done in the past. At the same time, history can be pigeonholed as fusty and antiquarian, dealing with long past events of no relevance to the present. As published in Health Economics, Policy and Law Volume…

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A history of partnerships

We're proud of the many partnerships we've established over the years. Beyond our long-standing connections with academic institutions, we've regularly supported events that bring people from around the world together to share knowledge. We're keenly aware of the power of shared information to shape the future.

Get Started

Our post-doctoral fellowships and project or doctoral completion grants can support your work and help you access valuable peer networks.