Dr. Ved Baruah Visits AIHP

Dr. Ved Baruah from the University of Shanghai is visiting the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy this week. While in Madison, Dr. Baruah will give a public presentation entitled, “Pain and Pleasure: A History of Pharmaceutical Opioids in the Asian Context,” conduct research in AIHP Historical Collections, and host a seminar with graduate students from the UW School of Pharmacy.

Dr. Baruah’s public presentation, which is scheduled for Wednesday, September 25th from 2:00-3:00 pm in Room 1116 of Rennebohm Hall, will explore the history of pharmaceutical opioids in India. He will explain the centuries-long history of opium-use in India, the country’s stringent drug prohibition regime adopted in the 1950s, and more recent debates about medical opiates and opioids in the context of a looming ‘opioid crisis.'” (Please see the poster at the bottom of this post for more information about this presentation.)

In addition to his public presentation, Dr. Baruah will conduct research in AIHP’s Kremers Reference files and other historical collections about the history of opium in India. He will also attend a seminar and have meetings with current graduate students from the Social and Administrative Sciences Division of the UW-Madison School of Pharamacy. Dr. Baruah will share his experiences researching and writing about the history of pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Baruah received his Masters from the University of Delhi (2009) and his PhD from Cardiff University (2015). After completing his doctorate, he spent one year as a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde and then worked for three years at Oxford University Press in India. Currently, Dr. Baruah is an assistant professor at the University of Shanghai. His forthcoming monograph with McGill-Queen’s University Press, Empire’s Forgotten Addicts: A History of Opium in Modern India examines Indian drugs, including legal and illegal opiates/opioids.