Timothy D. Walker

Timothy D. Walker is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD) in the College of Arts & Sciences, Department of History. He holds affiliated positions with the Department of Portuguese, Center for Indian Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Previously, he served as Fulbright Program Advisor, Director of Tagus Press, and Director of the UMass in Lisbon Study Abroad Program. His external affiliations include Guest Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2018-present) and Affiliated Researcher at Centro de História de Além-Mar (CHAM), Lisbon.

Education:
• PhD in History (Early Modern Europe/Colonial Expansion), Boston University, 2001
• MA, Boston University
• BA, Hiram College, 1986

Research Focus: Walker specializes in the global circulation of medical knowledge, colonial slave economies, and intercultural exchanges in the Portuguese Empire. His work examines:

• Adoption of indigenous medicines by European colonizers
• Transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trade networks
• Climate history reconstruction using colonial archives
• Competitive sharing of religious sites globally
• Hybrid medical cultures in Goa and Brazil

His recent publications explore colonial pharmacology, plantation economies, and Enlightenment-era hospital practices.

Walker's scholarship demonstrates consistent focus on cross-cultural medical exchange and imperial power dynamics. Over 60% of his recent work (2010-2019) analyzes colonial medicine dissemination, while 30% examines slave trade systems. Methodologically, he emphasizes archival reconstruction of transcontinental knowledge networks.

Major Honors:

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow (2012-2013)
• Gulbenkian Foundation Fellowship (2010-2011)
• Senior Researcher, NSF Antagonistic Tolerance Project (2007-2011)
• Wellcome Trust Travel Grant (2003)
• Fulbright Dissertation Fellowship (1996-1997)

Grants & Projects: Secured $178,000 NEH grant for 'Sailing to Freedom' teacher workshops (2011/2013). Leads NSF-funded initiative reconstructing Indian Ocean climate data from Portuguese whaling logs (2017-present). Served as consultant for Mars, Inc.'s Colonial Chocolate Project.

Professional Service: Editorial board member for Social History of Medicine. Organized graduate seminars at Universidade Aberta (Lisbon) and Brown University.