Mark Honigsbaum
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Mark Honigsbaum is a medical historian and journalist specializing in the history and science of infectious disease. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Journalism at
City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
. Honigsbaum graduated from Oxford University in 1982 with a BA and M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, then in 1984 joined the National Council for the Training of Journalists as a senior journalist. In 2011 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (History) from the University of London. In 2013 he was awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship by the Wellcome Trust to study the intellectual origins of disease ecology.


Work

Honigsbaum is a regular contributor to ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' and ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...
.'' He is the author of five books. The most recent, ''The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris'' (London; New York: Hurst; Norton 2019) was named one of the best books of the year in the "Health" category by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' and an “Editor’s Choice” by the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. In June 2020 W. H. Allen published a revised paperback edition under the new title ''The Pandemic Century: A Global History of Contagion from Spanish Flu to Covid-19''. He is also author of ''The Fever Trail: In Search of the Cure for Malaria'' (London: New York: Macmillan;
Farrar Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
, 2001) and ''Living With Enza: The Forgotten Story of Britain and the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918'' (
Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...
, 2008) which was longlisted for the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
science book of the year in 2009. In addition to his regular contributions to ''The Observer'' and ''The Lancet'' Honigsbaum has been published in ''Medical History'', the ''Social History of Medicine'' and the ''History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences''. Earlier in his career he served as an investigative reporter and feature writer at newspapers including the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'', ''
The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'', ''The Observer'' and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. In 1996 he led an investigation for Channel 4 Dispatches that exposed the role of M16 and Rolls-Royce in re-arming the Argentine Navy in breach of then British sanctions against the Galtieri regime in Argentina. His reporting for ''The Guardian'' on the London suicide bombings on July 7, 2005, was the source of a long-lived conspiracy theory that the bombings were a staged event. His work also includes animations for museums and web-based education platforms. In 2018 he gave the Henry Cohen lecture in the history of medicine at Liverpool Medical Institution. In 2020 he delivered a Bynum Lecture in the history of medicine for the
Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...
.


Personal history

Honigsbaum's father, Frank, who died in 2004, was also a medical historian and a prominent advocate for universal health insurance and the general practitioner system. His mother, Naomi, worked for many years at the National Children's Bureaus as an expert on HIV and children.


References


External links


''Going Viral'', a podcast hosted by Mark Honigsbaum

Interview with Mark Honigsbaum about his book ''The Pandemic Century''

Mark Honigsbaum's Substack

"Pandemics past, pandemics present," a webinar by Honigsbaum for the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honigsbaum, Mark British journalists 1960 births Living people British medical historians Academics of City, University of London Alumni of the University of Oxford