The 98th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine will be held May 1-4 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Call for Papers AAHM 2025

The American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) invites abstracts for papers in any area of medical history for its centennial meeting, to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, May 1-4, 2025. We welcome papers on the history of health and healing; the history of medical ideas, institutions, nursing, and medical practices; the history of illness and disease; public health; disability; diversity of experience; and access to healthcare. Submissions pertaining to all eras and regions of the world are welcome. Scholars, practitioners, librarians, archivists, and activists are encouraged to apply.

In addition, the AAHM Council has approved a one-day virtual meeting to occur the first week of March. This means that you must indicate whether you want to be considered for 1.) the virtual meeting in March or 2.) the in-person meeting in May. Once accepted, you must present your research in the format indicated on your application. While major events of the in-person meeting, such as the Garrison lecture and the awards presentation, will be broadcast, regular panels will NOT include virtual or pre-recorded presentations.

The Program Committee will accept five kinds of submissions, listed below. Please note that submissions are limited to one per person per category. Submission types include:

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. Authors wishing to publish their papers are urged to submit them for consideration to the Bulletin of the History of Medicine (BHM). To submit a proposal for a paper, click here.

Panels: Panels (ninety minutes) should consist of three to four individual papers featuring original scholarship (fifteen to twenty minutes each) addressing a common topic. If you plan to organize a panel, you will need to submit a proposal for the entire panel and coordinate individual speakers, which may or may not include a commentator. Each speaker needs to submit an individual abstract with a note indicating their role on the panel. Please note that panels will be judged collectively, with the goal of keeping panels intact as intended. Occasionally, however, the program committee may make changes. To submit a proposal for a panel, click here.

Roundtables: Roundtables (ninety minutes) should engage with pressing scholarly or political issues; bring together different disciplinary or methodological backgrounds; or address audiences or use formats not well supported by a more traditional panel format. Only one abstract need be submitted by the organizer, although a slate of four to six participants (including the chair) should be identified at the time of submission. To submit a proposal for a roundtable, click here.

Workshops: Workshops (seventy-five minutes) should address topics of broad interest, such as historiography, 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. Only one abstract need be submitted by the organizer, although all participants should be identified. The Program Committee will schedule several of these workshops during lunch breaks. To submit a proposal for a roundtable, click here.

Posters: Posters are well-suited to works 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. A call for posters will be issued in January 2025.

Submissions must include an abstract of no more than 300 words, including title, your name and institutional affiliation, three descriptive keywords, and three Continuing Medical Education (CME) learning objectives. (The learning objectives are not considered part of the word count.) For examples of how to write learning outcomes for CME, see here. For examples of successful abstracts from selected past programs, see here.

Individuals are not required to be AAHM members at the time of submission, but they must join AAHM before registering for and presenting at the meeting.

Abstracts must be submitted by midnight, Pacific Time (US), October 11, 2024. Late submissions will not be considered.