Professor Timothy Newfield Named Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship

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Timothy Newfield

Meet our new Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, Professor Timothy Newfield! Dr. Newfield is a historical epidemiologist, environmental historian, and assistant professor in the Departments of History and Biology at Georgetown. In the medical humanities, he has taught Global History of the Plague and Global Health History. In the spring, he will also be teaching the Senior Capstone Seminar for medical humanities minors!

In our interview with him, Dr. Newfield talks about his experience with the medical humanities and what he’s most excited about as the Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.

What do the medical humanities mean to you? How does the field intersect with your current work?

Everyone has a different definition, but for me the medical humanities unites the arts, humanities, and the social and natural sciences to assess and reassess medical practice and health — past, present, future. The field is as interdisciplinary as you can get. In fact, I am not sure it is possible to work or study in the medical humanities without being interdisciplinary. My own research and writing operates at the nexus of history, archaeology, and paleogenetics, though I am looking to include medical anthropology, which I have been exploring recently.

What is the most rewarding part of working in the medical humanities?

Interacting with students coming from a wide range of disciplines and looking to integrate theory, methods and evidence from across campus — I love that.

What will the Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship position entail? What are you in charge of?

I will be teaching the capstone regularly (starting this coming Spring semester) and doing my best to help students with their medical humanities projects. I will also be running a few events every academic year.

What are you most excited to accomplish with the Georgetown Medical Humanities Initiative?

To grow our community and to bring us together for events often.

If you could witness any historical event, what would you choose to experience?

As bad of an answer as they may be, I would have liked to have been in Constantinople in Spring 542 when the first plague pandemic arrived. In fact, I would be delighted to take in, but not succumb to, any pre-modern plague.