Harold J. Cook

Harold John Cook (born 1952) is John F. Nickoll Professor of History at Brown University and was director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College, London (UCL) from 2000 to 2009, and was the Queen Wilhelmina Visiting Professor of History at Columbia University in New York during the 2007–2008 academic year.

Prof. Cook's research interests include a number of related projects on the ways by which medical knowledge was exchanged between distant locations.

More generally, he is interested in the ways in which challenges and opportunities for the field of the history of medicine are unfolding in the context of recent developments in global history.

Cook is co-editor of the journal Medical History, serves on a number of advisory boards and professional bodies, and has been elected to an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians.

Prof. Cook's academic career has evolved across decades.

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In Matters of Exchange (2007), Cook argues that engaging in international trade changed the thinking of the Dutch and those with whom they came in contact.

He suggests that the preference for accurate information which accompanied the rise of commerce also laid the groundwork for the rise of science globally.

The book documents the developments in medicine and natural history were fundamental aspects of this new science.

It was a runner-up for the 2008 Cundill Prize.