Let's Talk About: Stigma
How do we talk about disease—and the stigma that often comes with it?
Join us at the History of Science Museum for conversations exploring how illness and stigma shape our experiences, perceptions, and histories. You'll hear from five thought-provoking speakers who will guide small breakout discussions before coming together as a group as our speakers share their reflections. You'll have an opportunity to contribute to the conversation and ask questions. Will hearing each other’s stories shift how we think?
Let's talk about stigma.
17:30 – Arrive at the Entrance Gallery
Explore our A Healthy Future for All exhibition curated by HSM and PSI. Chat with the curators and speakers.
17:45 – Welcome
A welcome from our Museum Director Dr Silke Ackermann and an introduction to our speakers from Dr Sean Elias (PSI).
18:00 – Head to the Basement Gallery
Speakers will lead small group conversations before we come together to share discussion highlights and have time for your questions.
19:00–19:30 – Keep the Conversation Going
Speakers and curators will be around to carry on the conversation in the Entrance Gallery.
Speakers:
Dr Tess Johnson works in the Ethox centre, in Oxford Population Health. Ethox researchers look at 'should' questions about health and wellbeing and the environment. Tess focuses on superbugs and how doctors, farmers and the public should go about using antibiotics to avoid creating new superbugs.
Joanne Gilchrist is a nurse and deputy clinical manager at the BSW ICB (Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board) Vaccination Hub, where she leads on their inequalities work. This includes the delivery of engagement work, targeted clinics and vaccine confidence education. They work in partnership with local authority health protection teams, health services and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
Amy Paterson is a South African clinician-researcher based at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford. Her DPhil/PhD work focuses on understanding and reducing stigma during infectious disease outbreaks, aiming to develop practical guidance and interventions that can improve public health responses. Amy’s research explores how stigma influences individuals' access to care, community trust, and outbreak control.
Dr Hohee Cho is a Research Associate at the Pandemic Sciences Institute and the Faculty of History. She is a historian specialising in colonial health systems and the history of disease in the Pacific Islands. Her research explores the intersection of medicine, empire, and stigma, with particular focus on Hansen’s disease and its quarantine regimes in the Pacific.
Dr Susanne Hodgson is an Infectious Diseases Doctor and Vaccinologist with an interest in Human Challenge studies. She leads the Oxford Gonococcal Vaccine Project at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford and aims to set up a human challenge model for gonorrhoea in the UK.
Organised by the Pandemic Sciences Institute and the History of Science Museum
