Dr. Jennifer Fraser
Roper-Hannah Chair in the History of Healthcare and Health Equity.
Jennifer Fraser was named the inaugural Roper-Hannah Chair in the History of Healthcare and Health Equity at the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University in 2026. She is jointly appointed to King’s History of Science and Technology program and Dalhousie’s Department of History and cross-appointed to the Department of Bioethics in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine.
Fraser is an interdisciplinary historian of medicine, technology and healthcare whose research examines the impact of colonialism on modern healthcare, with a particular focus on the historical roots of health inequalities and women’s health. Her work explores how the tools and assumptions of modern epidemiology—particularly in the study of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer—carry histories rooted in colonialism that continue to influence health policy and practice today. She is particularly interested in how historical assumptions about different populations have shaped the collection and interpretation of health data, access to screening and healthcare decision-making.
Fraser brings more than a decade of experience at the intersection of research, policy and public engagement and has held positions at Vancouver Island University, the University of Birmingham and King’s College London. Her work has been published across the history of medicine, public health and the humanities, and in 2025 she received Cambridge University Press’s William Bynum Essay Prize.
