Michelle McGachie
PhD candidate
m.mcgachie.1@research.gla.ac.uk
I am a PhD student at the University of Glasgow with a background in Literature, Film, Classics and History. I studied my Masters in the History of Medicine (MSc) at Glasgow and have continued on to a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust which looks at the questions of consent in the collection of medical data as part of the ‘Collections: an Enlightenment Pedagogy for the 21st Century’.
Research and Teaching Interests
At undergraduate my interests led me to look at classical and modern interpretations of medicine. Some projects included examining the interaction between physicians and their context in classical Greece, the debated dissections at Alexandria and depiction of medical disorders in modern film. At masters level my interest grew to include medical literature within Highland folklore. One of my continuing pieces of work focuses on Martin Martin’s, ‘A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland’. For my dissertation I looked at the concept of the ‘worried well’ in 1970’s America and 1980s Britain. My interests have led me towards recent history and sociology. My PhD looks at reasons for consent and non-consent in participation for DNA research.
Keywords:
EthicsFilm and TVGeneticsHistory of MedicineIllness NarrativesLiterature and MedicineMental healthPatient Care