The American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) invites abstracts for papers on the history of health, healing, and medicine to be presented at its annual meeting to be held in Charleston, South Carolina, May 19-23, 2027.

This year’s Program Committee, led by co-chairs Jim Downs and Cindy Ermus, invites proposals that engage with the dynamic character of the conference’s host city. Charleston’s history is one of circulation and connection; of tides and currents; of crossings and boundaries; of the local and the global. We welcome papers that explore such themes across all periods and places. Possible topics include oceanic histories; transoceanic movement and border crossings; translation; migration and health; encounters and exchange; race and public health; medicine, pharmaceuticals, and trade; the creation, circulation, and contestation of medical knowledge; epidemics and disease transmission; international health; environmental health; military medicine; and changing medical paradigms. The Garrison Lecturer for the 2027 meeting will be Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens (UConn), a renowned specialist in the history of slavery and
reproductive justice.

These topics are intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. We encourage submissions that engage creatively with the conference themes from any perspective within the history of medicine, health, and healing. We especially welcome medieval and early modern topics, interdisciplinary approaches that bring the history of medicine into conversation with fields such as narrative medicine, the health and medical humanities, literature, disability studies, public health, anthropology, environmental studies, and related fields. We also encourage work that considers narrative and storytelling as sources of medical knowledge, forms of clinical practice, and ways of understanding experiences of illness, health, and healing.

The annual meeting is also an opportunity to reflect together on professional questions and challenges we encounter as educators, researchers, clinicians, and other professionals. To that end, we also seek proposals for workshops on key areas of professional development, including new pedagogical approaches in colleges, universities, and medical schools; navigating the academic job market and developing careers within and beyond the university; mentorship; the
tenure process and promotion to full professor; academic and popular publishing; and the ways historians of medicine engage with public audiences.

Submission types

Proposals for the 2027 meeting can take any of the following five forms: individual papers, prepared panels, roundtables, workshops, and posters. Please note that submissions are limited to one per person per category. Presenters, however, can also be chairs or discussants of an organized panel, roundtable, or workshop.

Individual papers: All papers in this category should represent original scholarship not already published or in press. Speakers should expect to give a presentation of no more than twenty minutes followed by ten minutes of discussion.

Panels: Panels (ninety minutes) should consist of three to four individual papers featuring original scholarship (limited to fifteen to twenty minutes each) addressing a common topic. An appointed chair should submit a proposal for the entire panel and coordinate individual speakers.

Please note that both panels and individual abstracts for the papers included in them will be judged collectively, with a goal of keeping proposed panels intact; occasionally, however, the Program Committee may make changes. Panels may include an invited discussant, bearing in mind the time limit.

When submitting a panel proposal on Sched, chairs will have the opportunity to add all speaker names when they submit the proposal. When prompted to select the proposal format, please select “panel” and provide the panel name. Each speaker should submit an individual abstract as well. When prompted to select the proposal format, please select “panel” and provide the panel name.

Roundtables: Roundtables should engage with pressing historiographical questions. Roundtables are thus opportunities to address audiences or use formats not well supported by a more traditional panel format. The organizer should submit a single abstract, and a slate of four to six participants (including the chair) should be confirmed at the time of submission. 

When submitting a roundtable proposal on Sched, organizers will have the opportunity to add all participant names when they submit the proposal.

Workshops: Workshops should focus on issues of professional development: teaching, research methods, and advocacy. These sessions have a flexible format and can include four to five participants (including the chair), while leaving ample space for discussion with the audience. The organizer should submit a single abstract, and all participants should be confirmed at the time of submission.

When submitting a workshop proposal on Sched, organizers will have the opportunity to add all participant names when they submit the proposal.

Posters: Posters are well suited to projects that emphasize non-textual content. A limited number of them, representing original work not already published or in press, will be accepted for display in a designated area, with planned times for discussion during the meeting.

This year, the AAHM will use Sched as its online abstract submission system, which can be found at: https://cfp.sched.com/speaker/1DnOFCs4gY

Submissions must include an abstract of no more than 300 words, as well as a title, the submitter’s name and institutional affiliation, three descriptive keywords, and three Continuing Medical Education (CME) learning objectives.  For suggestions on developing learning objectives, see www.histmed.org/cme-learning-objectives. For examples of successful abstracts from selected past programs, see www.histmed.org/meetings.

Abstracts must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on October 15, 2026. Late submissions will not be considered.

See you in Charleston!