Deadly Diseases: Epidemics throughout History

Sean O’Donnell serves as Associate Director of Academic Ventures at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He oversees and develops content for much of the public and private programming of the Radcliffe Institute, including the current Science Lecture Series on epidemics and the two-year Associated Events Series exploring the Institute’s theme of citizenship. Prior to the Radcliffe Institute, Dr. O’Donnell was a lecturer in Harvard’s History of Science Department, where he taught a range of courses. Dr. O’Donnell is a four-time recipient of the Harvard Bok Center’s award for excellence in teaching and was twice recognized by the Harvard Hoopes Prize committee for his mentoring of outstanding senior theses. Dr. O’Donnell earned his PhD from the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, a JD from Boston College Law School, and a MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He held post-doctoral fellowships in science and technology at the Harvard Kennedy School and at the Nanotechnology Research Group at Northeastern University. Dr. O’Donnell has worked on numerous issues in law, ethics, and human rights. He was a member of Harvard’s Global AIDS Policy Coalition and Boston College’s Holocaust and Human Rights Research Project, where his work was recognized by the Jimmy Carter Center for Human Rights. His recent academic work focuses on the creation of the lie detector at the Harvard Psychological Laboratory and the first legal case (Frye v. U.S.) to deny its admission in the American courts. His research raises key questions about the construction of race, bodies, and scientific 'expertise' as standards about the reliability of scientific evidence were emerging. More generally, his scholarly interests include the history of scientific evidence; critical legal theory; cultural studies of race, gender, and sexuality; the history of law, medicine, public health and disease; and visual and non-visual modes of knowledge.