Nicole Elizabeth Barnes

Nicole Elizabeth Barnes is an Associate Professor of History and Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies at Duke University, affiliated with the Duke Global Health Institute. She holds appointments in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

Educated at the University of California, Irvine (Ph.D., 2012), her research focuses on public health, medicine, and gender in twentieth-century China. She examines how health policies and medical practices reflect societal values and state objectives during periods of conflict and transformation.

Research Interests: Her work explores the intersection of gender, war, and public health, with a particular focus on the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). She studies topics like night-soil management, state health services expansion, and contested medical practices. Her book Intimate Communities: Wartime Healthcare and the Birth of Modern China, 1937-1945 (2018) highlights healthcare networks as foundational to modern Chinese nationalism.

Awards & Honors:

• Faculty Research Grant (Duke Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, 2016)
• Pressman-Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Development Award (AAHM, 2013)
• Fulbright-Hays Fellowship (2010)

Teaching: She teaches courses on Chinese history, global medicine, and gender studies, including History of Global Health and Global History of Medicine.