Tilli Tansey

Elizabeth Matilda "Tilli" Tansey is a British neurochemist who is an Emerita Professor of the history of medicine and former neurochemist, best known for her role in the Wellcome Trust's witness seminars. She previously^[when?] worked at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).^[1]

Tilli Tansey CBE FMedSci FRCP
Tansey in 2018
Born	Elizabeth Matilda Tansey
Alma mater	University of Sheffield University of London
Known for	Witness seminars
Scientific career
Fields	Neuroscience History of science History of medicine
Institutions	Queen Mary University of London University College London
Theses	The early scientific career of Sir Henry Dale FRS (1875–1968)  (1990) A histochemical study of the cephalopod brain (1978)
Website	iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=EMTTA57

Education

Tansey was educated at the University of Sheffield where she was awarded a PhD in 1978^[2] for histochemical studies of the brain in cephalopods. After switching fields from neuroscience^[3] to the history of science, she was awarded a second PhD in the history of science for her research on the early career of the nobel laureate Henry Hallett Dale.^[4]

Career and research

Between 2012 and 2017, she was head of the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, on a five-year research project funded by the Wellcome Trust titled The Makers of Modern Biomedicine: Testimonies and Legacy, to record oral testimonies from those who have contributed significantly to modern medical sciences.^[5][6][7]

Tansey's Witness Seminar series, held at the Wellcome Trust Centre, had the aim of bringing together medical professionals, scientists and technicians in group discussions, with the purpose of learning about significant periods in the history recent medicine.^[8][9][10] Topics covered have included oral contraceptives, genetic testing, and post-penicillin antibiotics.^[8]

Selected publications

• She co-edited a book with Susan Wray celebrating one hundred years of women physiologists.^[11][12][13]
• The History of Toxicology: the Long and Short of it^[14]
• Rudolf Magnus; Physiologist and Pharmacologist (1873–1927): A Biography^[15] concerning Rudolf Magnus

Awards and honours

Tansey is an honorary member of The Physiological Society.^[16] In 2015, at the centenary of women's membership of the Physiological Society, Tansey received the Paton prize and presented her prize lecture entitled Maude, Nettie, Ghetel and George, a study of some women married to early nineteenth century Physiological Society members.^[17][13][18]

In 2017 she was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.^[19]