Kevin Brown (born 1961) has been Trust Archivist and Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum Curator at St Mary's NHS Trust, subsequently Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, since 1989, having set up the archives service for St Mary's Hospital,

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, in 1989 and having established the museum in 1993. Brown was educated at

Hertford College Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. He is a professional archivist and museum curator specialising in the history of medicine and has lectured widely. In 2001, he was the first historian and first non-scientist to deliver the Andrew J. Moyer Lecture at the United States Department of Agriculture National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research at

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. He was Chairman of

the London Museums of Health & Medicine The London Museums of Health & Medicine is a group that brings together some of the activities of several museums in London, England, related to health and medicine. The group was founded in 1991. The museums and medical organisations are: * Al ...

from 2001 to 2004. He is an authority on

Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of wha ...

and the history of

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...

. Brown's 2004 biography of Alexander Fleming, ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution'' tells the story of the discovery of penicillin and of the great scientist who made that breakthrough. He has also written a history 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 Pox: the Life and Near Death of a Very Social Disease'' in 2006 and has written a study of health, war and military and civilian medicine in the 20th century, published as ''Fighting Fit: Health Medicine and War in the Twentieth Century'' in 2008. He has since turned his attention to the history of maritime medicine with ''Poxed and Scurvied: The Story of Sickness and Health at Sea'' published in 2011; ''Passage to the World: The Emigrant Experience'' in 2013; ''The Seasick Admiral: Nelson and the Health of the Navy'' in 2016; and ''Fittest of the Fit: Health and Morale in the Royal Navy 1939–1945'' in 2019.

References

* ''British Medical Journal'', 330 (1 January 2005), 51. * Kevin Brown, ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution'', 2004. * Kevin Brown, ''The Pox: the Life and Near Death of a Very Social Disease'', 2006. * A. A. Glynn, 'Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum', ''

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy The ''Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal which covers antimicrobial chemotherapy, including laboratory aspects and clinical use of antimicrobial agents. It is published by Oxford University Press on behalf o ...

'', 58 (2006), 233–234 * Kevin Brown, ''Fighting Fit: Health, Medicine and War in the Twentieth Century'', 2008 * Kevin Brown, ''Poxed and Scurvied: The Story of Sickness and Health at Sea'', 2011 * Kevin Brown, ''Passage to the World: The Emigrant Experience'', 2013 * Kevin Brown, ''The Seasick Admiral: Nelson and the Health of the Navy'', 2016 * Kevin Brown, ''Fittest of the Fit: Health and Morale in the Royal Navy 1939–1945'', 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Kevin 1961 births Living people Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Alumni of University College London English archivists English biographers English curators English non-fiction writers English medical historians English male non-fiction writers