William H. Welch Medal

National Library of Medicine

William H. Welch

The William H. Welch Medal is awarded to one or more authors of a book (excluding edited volumes) of outstanding scholarly merit in the field of medical history published during the five calendar years preceding the award. Hence, books published during 2018–2022 inclusively will be eligible for the Medal to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine, in Kansas City, Missouri, May 9-12, 2024. No author who has previously won the Welch Medal is eligible for the award. A complete list of previous winners is available here.

The award is named in honor of a major American figure in the history of medicine and public health, who was also one of the first faculty members at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The Medal was first presented in 1950 to Henry Sigerist.   The chair of the 2023-2024 Welch Medal Committee Pratik Chakrabarti welcomes suggestions of books to consider for the award. Publishers nominating a book must send a copy to each member of the committee. To nominate a book and to obtain mailing addresses of all committee members, contact: Pratik Chakrabarti at pchakra7@central.uh.edu.

Deadline for nominations: November 3, 2023. Previously nominated eligible books must be re-nominated; they will not be considered automatically.

Welch Medal Committee 2023-2024

  • Pratik Chakrabarti, Chair
  • Dana Landress
  • Jai Virdi
  • Olivia Weisser
  • Michael Yudell

Past Welch Medal Winners