Dr. Helen Tilley

Biography

Helen Tilley is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Northwestern University, with courtesy appointments in the Pritzker School of Law and the Anthropology Department. She earned her Ph.D. from Oxford in 2002. Tilley's research focuses on the intersections of medical, environmental, and human sciences within the context of colonial and post-colonial Africa. Her notable work, 'Africa as a Living Laboratory: Empire, Development, and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge' published by Chicago Press in 2011, examines the interplay between scientific research and imperialism in British Africa from 1870 to 1950. Tilley has received several prestigious awards, including the Ludwik Fleck Prize from the Society for Social Studies of Science in 2014 and the honorable mention for the Herskovits Prize from the African Studies Association in 2012. Her scholarly contributions also include articles on topics such as eugenics, agriculture, and epidemiology in tropical Africa, and she has co-edited several volumes addressing the impacts of imperialism on knowledge. Currently, Tilley is investigating the histories of African decolonization, global governance, and the categorization of “traditional medicine” in policy-making during the Cold War era. She has received research grants from the Wellcome Trust and the National Science Foundation, among others. Tilley actively teaches various courses on global African history, medical pluralism, and environmental issues.

Research Interests

Awards