Staff

Professor Holger Maehle, Dr.med, Dr.med.habil., Ph.D.

Professor/HPSM MA Director/Director of Research in the Department of Philosophy

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 46557

Professor, History of Medicine and Disease in the School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 40701

Professor, History of Medicine and Disease in the Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease

Member of Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences)

Member in the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing

Contact Professor Holger Maehle

Biography

Andreas-Holger Maehle was born on 9 April 1957 in Siegen, Germany. He studied Medicine at the University of Bonn (1976-83), was awarded a Dr. med. (Bonn, 1983), served as a military medical officer (1983-84) and was an assistant at the Institute for the History of Medicine, University of Göttingen (1984-1990). He received his habilitation and venia legendi in History of Medicine with the Medical Faculty, Göttingen (1990) and served as Lecturer in History of Medicine, University of Göttingen (1990-91). Moving to England, he was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, University College London (1991-94) and a Wellcome Trust University Award Holder and Research Fellow at Durham University (1994-96). He received his Ph.D. from University College London in 1996 and went on to be Reader in History of Medicine, Durham University (1996-2000). Since 2000 he has been Professor of History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, Department of Philosophy, Durham University, and since 2001 in addition Director of the Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University. He serves on the advisory board of the journal Gesnerus and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Medical History. He is a Member of the American Association for the History of Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He is the author of 5 monographs: 'Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620-1695) als Toxikologe' (Verlag Sauerlaender 1987), 'Kritik und Verteidigung des Tierversuchs: Die Anfaenge der Diskussion im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert' (Franz Steiner Verlag 1992), 'Drugs on Trial: Experimental Pharmacology and Therapeutic Innovation in the Eighteenth Century' (Rodopi 1999), 'Doctors, Honour and the Law: Medical Ethics in Imperial Germany (Palgrave Macmillan 2009), and 'Contesting Medical Confidentiality: Origins of the Debate in the United States, Britain, and Germany' (University of Chicago Press 2016). With Cay Pruell and Robert Halliwell he co-authored 'A Short History of the Drug Receptor Concept' (Palgrave Macmillan 2009). With Lutz Sauerteig he edited a special issue of Medical History (vol. 56/2, 2012) on Albert Moll, and with Heather Wolffram a special issue of the Royal Society journal Notes and Records on the history of hypnotism (vol. 71/2, 2017).

His current research is on 19th- and 20th-century medical ethics, especially in Britain, and the history of hypnotism.

He would be happy to supervise new PhD students who would like to do research on topics in the history of medicine and medical ethics.

OFFICE HOURS: Tuesdays, 10-13, or by appointment.

Research Groups

Department of Philosophy

History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine
History of Philosophy

School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health

Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease

Research Projects

Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease

Law and Ethics in the Issue of Medical Confidentiality in England and Germany, 1871-1933
The Impact of the Receptor Concept

Research Interests

Ethical issues in the history of medicine
History of medicine and the life sciences
History of pharmacology
History of stem cell research

Teaching Areas

Biomedical Ethics Past and Present (33 hours/year.)
Ethics, Medicine & History (14 hours/year.)
History & Theory of Medicine (22 hours/year.)

Selected Publications

Authored book

Maehle, Andreas-Holger (2016). Contesting Medical Confidentiality: Origins of the Debate in the United States, Britain, and Germany. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Pruell, C.-R., Maehle, A.-H. & Halliwell, R. F. (2009). A Short History of the Drug Receptor Concept. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Maehle, Andreas-Holger (2009). Doctors, Honour and the Law: Medical Ethics in Imperial Germany. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter in book

Maehle, Andreas-Holger. (2011). Medical Ethics and the Law. In The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine. Jackson, Mark. Oxford University Press. 543-560.
Maehle, A H (2010). Eine Kultur der Ehre: Ärztliche Berufsethik im Deutschen Kaiserreich zwischen Moral und Recht. In Ärztliches Ethos im Kontext: Historische, phänomenologische und didaktische Analysen. Bruchhausen, W & Hofer, H G Bonn: Bonn University Press. 59-73.
Maehle, Andreas-Holger. & Troehler, Ulrich. (2009). The Discourses of Practitioners in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany. In The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics. Baker, Robert B. & McCullough, Laurence B. Cambridge University Press. 432-438.
Maehle, Andreas-Holger. (2009). The Ethics of Experimenting on Animal Subjects. In The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics. Baker, Robert B. & McCullough, Laurence B. Cambridge University Press. 552-557.
Maehle AH (2002). The Emergence of Medical Professional Ethics in Germany. In Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Biomedical Ethics. From Paternalism to Autonomy?. Maehle AH & Geyer-Kordesch J Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate. 37-48.
Maehle, AH (2001). Zwischen medizinischem Paternalismus und Patientenautonomie: Albert Molls ‘Aerztliche Ethik’ (1902) im historischen Kontext. In Medizingeschichte und Medizinethik. Kontroversen und Begruendungsansaetze 1900-1950. Frewer, A & Neumann, JN Frankfurt and New York: Campus Verlag. 44-56.

Edited book

Maehle AH & Geyer-Kordesch J (2002). Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Biomedical Ethics. From Paternalism to Autonomy?. Ashgate Studies in Applied Ethics. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate.

Edited Journal

Maehle, Andreas-Holger & Wolffram, Heather (2017). History of hypnotism in Europe. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 71 (2): The Royal Society Publishing.
Maehle, Andreas-Holger & Sauerteig, Lutz (2012). Sexology, Medical Ethics and Occultism: Albert Moll in Context. Medical History, 56 (2): Cambridge University Press.