Wayne Soon

Wayne Soon is an Associate Professor in the Program of the History of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the Department of Surgery and Program of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University and previously taught at Vassar College and Earlham College.

His research examines global health histories through diasporic Chinese medical networks and health insurance systems in postwar China and Taiwan. Soon's work highlights how medical personnel transformed practices like blood banking and mobile medicine across political borders.

His 2020 book Global Medicine in China: A Diasporic History analyzes transnational medical exchanges, while current projects investigate health insurance as 'affective regimes' mediating state-citizen relationships.

Soon contributes scholarly articles to journals including Bulletin of the History of Medicine and public scholarship to The Diplomat, and is editing a special issue on health insurance biogeopolitics in East/Southeast Asia.