Susan Burns

Professor Susan Burns is affiliated with the University of Chicago as a faculty member in the Department of History and the College. She is also affiliated with the Center for East Asian Studies and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. Her roles include Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies.

Her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan, with expertise in medical history, gender studies, and legal history. She employs digital tools like ArcGIS and text mining for historical analysis, particularly in projects such as Mapping Medical Tokyo. Her work bridges traditional historical methods with spatial analysis and digital humanities.

Burns has authored influential works including Kingdom of the Sick (2019) on leprosy history and co-edited Gender and Law in the Japanese Imperium (2014). Her article on Meiji-era medical entrepreneurship (2012) and studies on patent medicines (2018) highlight intersections of medicine, gender, and empire.

Scientific Awards & Grants:

• Fulbright-Hays Fellowship
• IIE Fulbright
• Japan Foundation Grant
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship
• National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

She has served on the Undergraduate Studies Committee and directed the Center for East Asian Studies. Her recent projects explore early modern medical knowledge systems and their influence on Western biomedicine adoption post-1870.