Adam Warren

Adam Warren is a Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of History at the University of Washington, affiliated with the College of Arts & Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego (2004). His expertise spans Latin American history, focusing on Peru and the Andes, with a specialization in the history of medicine, science, and colonial governance. His research explores how medicine and scientific practices shaped social hierarchies, population policies, and colonial projects.

Warren’s work interrogates the intersections of disability, empire, colonialism, ethics, and medical practices. Notable projects include analyzing 18th-century medical reforms in colonial Peru (published as Medicine and Politics in Colonial Peru, 2010) and collaborative studies on postmortem cesarean operations for fetal baptism in the Spanish Empire (Baptism Through Incision, 2020). His current project examines disability and slavery in colonial Peru and Río de la Plata.

He has held an ACLS Collaborative Research Fellowship (with Martha Few and Zeb Tortorici) and co-edited a volume on human sciences research in colonial contexts (Empire, Colonialism, and the Human Sciences, 2024). His teaching and research emphasize interdisciplinary approaches, blending medical history with postcolonial and indigenous studies.