The closeness of home: depicting the impact of tuberculosis and chronic respiratory infection across medieval Iceland

Dr. Cecilia Collins, osteologist and palaeopathologist gives a lecture at the National Museum. The lecture is in English.

Recent research has revised our understanding of the burden of disease in the past, especially the past prevalence of tuberculosis and chronic respiratory infections. Observing pathological changes to the sinuses and ears specifically allows us to trace the contours of disease in communities of the past, and even possible cases of hearing loss among adults and children alike.

Cecilia first came to work and study in Iceland in 2008 in osteology and palaeopathology, and completed her Ph.D. in bioarchaeology at the University of Reading, England, in 2019. She has also studied and worked in the US, UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Germany, and is now settled in Reykjavík with her family. She is currently a research associate at the Institute for Biomedical and Neural Engineering at the University of Reykjavík.

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