Kevin Siena

Kevin Siena is a Professor of History at Trent University, specializing in early modern British history with a focus on medical history, sex and disease, contagion, and social welfare. He holds an M.A. from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His research explores intersections between Enlightenment science, class, race, and medical practices in historical contexts.

Education:

• M.A., University of Rochester
• Ph.D., University of Toronto

Research Interests:

• Medical and social responses to epidemics and venereal diseases
• Class and race in Enlightenment-era science
• Female healers and medical authority
• Urban poverty and healthcare access in early modern Europe

Publications:

• Rotten Bodies: Class and Contagion in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Yale UP, 2019)
• Venereal Disease, Hospitals and the Urban Poor (Rochester UP, 2004)

His recent articles analyze medical care for the poor, syphilis prevalence in 18th-century London, and typhus narratives. Siena’s work bridges medical historiography with social and cultural analysis, emphasizing marginalized voices in historical medical discourse.