Elizabeth Fee (December 11, 1946 – October 17, 2018), also known as Liz Fee, was a historian of science, medicine and health. She was the Chief of the

United States National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

History of Medicine Division.

Early life and education

Fee was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

to Deirdre and John Fee, Methodist missionaries. From the age of five months, she began travelling with her parents to destinations including China, Malaysia, India, Egypt and throughout Europe. After contracting scarlet fever in China, Fee lost her hearing in one ear. In her teen years, the family returned to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

where Fee attended school. Fee studied biology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and received a

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. In 1968, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and went to study with

Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American History and philosophy of science, historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. She was awarded two master's degrees and obtained a PhD in the

history and philosophy of science The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the history of science. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as either historians or as philosophers, there ...

in 1978. Her dissertation, based on Victorian

periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

, was titled "Science and the 'Woman Question,' 1860–1920".

Career

Fee taught history of science and medicine at the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

and introduced controversial courses on human sexuality. In 1974, Fee went to work at

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene ...

, where she worked until 1995. She worked in departments including health humanities, international health, and health policy. Fee was involved in the

feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

and the Health Marxist Organisation. In 1994, she coedited ''Women's Health, Politics, and Power: Essays on Sex/Gender, Medicine, and Public Health'' with Nancy Krieger. She became particularly well known for her work to document and analyse the

history of HIV/AIDS AIDS is caused by a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which originated in non-human primates in Central and West Africa. While various sub-groups of the virus acquired human infectivity at different times, the present pandemic had its origins ...

. Historian Theodore M. Brown has said that Fee sought "to make sure that vulnerable people do not have their needs and rights trampled in the rush to 'protect the public.'" She coedited ''AIDS: The Burden of History'' in 1988 and ''AIDS: The Making of a Chronic Disease'' in 1992 with Daniel Fox. Her work informed scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer health and wellbeing. Fee produced almost thirty books and hundreds of articles, on topics as varied as the racialized treatment of

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

, the history of the

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, and

bioterrorism Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents include bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or their toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in mu ...

. During her tenure at Johns Hopkins, Fee wrote a history of the School of Public Health, ''Disease and Discovery: A History of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1916–1939''. This is considered the first "biography" of the first school of public health, and it documented power networks in a supposedly

technocratic Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

field. Later, she and Roy Acheson wrote a history of public health education. In 1990, Fee became the editor of the history section of the '' American Journal of Public Health (AJPH)''. In the 1990s, she started the Sigerist Circle, which examined class, race and gender, and the Spirit of 1848 Caucus of the

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health pr ...

, which sought to improve the understanding of how identity influences public health. Fee became the Chief of the History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine in 1995. She oversaw moves to restructure the organisation around three sections: Rare Books and Early Manuscripts, Images and Archives, and Exhibitions. In the 2000s, she became one of the leaders of Global Health Histories, a group created by the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

and the

World Health Organisation The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

to analyse 20th-century public health initiatives. This resulted in the book ''The World Health Organization: A History'', written with

Marcos Cueto Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) *Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélso ...

and Theodore M. Brown. She was appointed Chief Historian of the National Library of Medicine in 2011. Shortly before her 2018 death, Fee retired to become an independent researcher.

Awards

Fee received the following awards: * Kellog fellowship - W. K. Kellogg Foundation *

Fulbright fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

* Regents Award -

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

* Arthur Viseltear Award -

National Council on Public History

Personal life

Fee met her wife, Mary Garafolo, in the 1980s when Fee was based at Johns Hopkins. They married in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 2005.

Death and legacy

Fee died due to complications of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

on October 17, 2018, in Bethesda. The June issue of ''APJH'' featured eight articles marking Fee's influence on the field of the history of public health.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fee, Elizabeth 1946 births 2018 deaths American women historians American historians of science Writers from Belfast Emigrants from Northern Ireland to the United States Alumni of the University of Cambridge Princeton University alumni State University of New York faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty British LGBTQ historians United States National Library of Medicine Deaths from motor neuron disease in Maryland 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century LGBTQ people from Northern Ireland 21st-century LGBTQ people from Northern Ireland