Dr. Stephen Casper

Biography

Stephen T. Casper is a historian of medicine whose work investigates the cultural, scientific, and political dimensions of brain injury, neurology, and the neurosciences in the modern era. His scholarship traces the medical knowledge that has developed—and faltered—in confronting traumatic brain injury, chronic neurological disorders, and disturbances of consciousness. His monograph, Punch Drunk Dementia: A Cultural History of Concussion, 1870–2012, which is under contract with Johns Hopkins University Press, explores the shifting scientific, cultural, and legal frameworks that have shaped public understanding of the consequences of concussion. Casper is also the author of Neurologists: A History of the Medical Specialty in Modern Britain, c. 1789–2000 (Manchester University Press, 2014), which accounts for the professionalization of neurology in the Anglo-American world. Dr. Casper has edited influential volumes in the history of medicine and science, including Neurological Patient History (2012) and History of the Brain and Mind Sciences: Technique, Technology, Therapy (2017). He is a co-editor of the forthcoming Cultural History of Madness in the Nineteenth Century (Bloomsbury). His research interests span the history of traumatic brain injuries and concussions, the physiology of the Anglo-American world, the politics of neuroscience, disturbances of consciousness, and patient medical history.

Research Interests

Experience