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Robyn Atcheson, BA, MA, PhD

Fee £100.00 (concession rate £80.00) - fee will amend when you select the appropriate fee rate below.

Autumn 2025

10 weekly sessions on Tuesdays 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm, starting 23 September

If you've ever wondered how syphilis was treated before the discovery of antibiotics, why no one really understood what happened during pregnancy and childbirth or just how people in the past managed to survive the plague, this course explains all of these and more. It looks at common illnesses, the controversial study of human anatomy and the sometimes gruesome treatments used to cure or treat various maladies. By considering how health and sickness affected the lives of those living from the sixteenth century to the turn of the nineteenth century, we will discover how physicians, patients and society in general responded to medicine. This course will consider how people understood their own bodies, how society reacted to the threats of disease and how medical knowledge evolved over time.

This class will take place on QUB campus

Support Requirements

If as a result of your disability you have support requirements, please complete a support needs form and return it 3 weeks before your class commences. The form is available to download here under the Facilities and Support for Disabled Students section or contact the office on 90 973323.

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The information you provide below will be added to our Open Learning database, which is held securely by Queen's University Belfast, and will be treated confidentially. We will only use this information to provide you with the services you have enrolled for.