Professor Poonam Bala

Qualifications

• B.Sc.&M.Sc. (University of Delhi)

• M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University,India)

• P.H.D (University of Edinburgh, UK)

Post-Doctoral Research

University of Edinburgh and SOAS/Wellcome Institute (UK)

Fields of academic interests

Social History of Medicine, Medicine and empires, Indian medicine and British rule, History of Diseases/Epidemics and Society, Indigenous Medicine and Science/Medicine and nationalism, policies and medicine

Field of Specialisation

Social History of Medicine/Medical Sociology

Books

• Imperialism and Medicine in Bengal: A Socio-Historical Perspective (Sage,1991)
• Medicine and Medical Policies in India: Social and Historical Perspectives (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007)
• Ed. Biomedicine as a Contested Site: Some Revelations in Imperial Contexts (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009)
• Ed. Contesting Colonial Authority: Medicine and Indigenous Responses in 19^th- and 20^th- century India (Lexington Books, 2012)
• Ed. Medicine and Colonialism: Historical Perspectives in India and South Africa (Pickering and Chatto, 2014)
• Diaspora, Culture and Identity: Asian Indians in America (Rawat Publications, 2015)
• Ed. Contesting Colonial Authority: Medicine and Indigenous Responses in 19^th and 20^th- century India (Primus, 2015-South Asian edition)
• Ed. Medicine and Colonialism: Historical Perspectives in India and South Africa (re-printed pbk. Routledge, 2016)
• Ed. Medicine and Colonial Engagements in India and Sub-Saharan Africa (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018)
• Ed. Learning from Empire: Medicine, Knowledge and Transfers under Portuguese Rule, (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018)
• Kayasth: An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories (with U.Sahay) (Sauv, 2021)
• Ed. Epidemic Encounters, Communities and Practices in the Colonial World (with Russel Viljoen), (Lexington books, 2022)

Paper presentations

• Medicine, Religion and the Context of Colonial History: Engaging, Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathy In Dorothea Luddeckens, Philip Hetmanczyk et al. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Religion, Health and Medicine, London: Routledge, 2021
• “Alternative Medicine: Mind, Body and Spirit” In Graham A.Colditz (ed.),The Sage Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society (second edition), Sage Publications, USA, 2015
• “New Biotechnologies: An Overview” In Clive Svendsen and Alison D. Ebert (eds.) Encyclopedia of Stem-Cell Research, Sage Publications, USA, 2008
• “Disease and Poverty” In Graham A.Colditz (ed.), Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society, Sage Publications, USA, 2007
• “History of Cancer” In Graham A.Colditz (ed.), Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society, Sage Publications, USA, 2007
• Medicine and Medical Concepts in Rural India: A Case Study of Village Chaani- Lwesal, Seminar, March 1995
• State Policy towards Indigenous Drugs in British Bengal, Journal of the European Ayurvedic Society, I, 167-76, 1990
• Indigenous Medicine and the State in Ancient India, Ancient Science of Life, V, 1-4, 1985 Ayurveda and the British Raj: Factors Influencing State Policy in British India, Studies in History of Medicine, 18, 13-19, 1984

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

• Held Visiting Professorships at Martin Luther University, University of Crete, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and University of South Africa
• Former Professor, Amity University (India)
• Former Reader/Associate Professor (University of Delhi)
• Visiting Faculty (Case Western Reserve University)
• Course Director- Sociology of Health/Health Care (York University)
• Programme Officer (Danish International Development Assistance/ Royal Danish Embassy, Delhi)
• Consultant (Danish International Development Assistance/ Royal Danish Embassy, Delhi )
• Awarded the UGC Visiting Fellowship-University of Calcutta
• University International Fellowship-University of South Africa
• Wellcome Trust Travel Grant- UCL (London)
• Post-Doctoral Fellowship- Wellcome Institute/ SOAS (London)
• Commonwealth Scholarship (for Ph.D.), U.K
• UGC Scholarship- Jawaharlal Nehru University, India