Medica Book Series

Minji Lee is an assistant professor at Montclair State University. She holds an MA from Seoul National University and a PhD in Religion from Rice University in Houston, Texas.  She joined the Department of Religion after serving as a Visiting Scholar in the Medical Humanities Program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Dr. Lee specializes in the study of medicine in relation to cultural practices and belief systems – including women’s health, reproductive issues, and comparative analysis of alternative medicine in Korea and the United States. She brings with her an active research agenda, having produced several peer-reviewed articles and conference papers, such as “Woman’s Body In-Between: The Holy and Monstrous Womb in Medieval Medicine and Religion” and “The Me-Too Movement and the Church’s Reaction in Korea.”  Dr. Lee also brings a demonstrated record of excellence in pedagogy and will teach courses in both the Department of Religion and the new Medical Humanities major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Currently, she is working on her monograph The Medieval Womb Hildegard of Bingen’s Views on the Female Reproductive Body.

Erin Connelly is an Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick supported by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship to explore questions of ethnopharmacology and the antimicrobial efficacy of ingredients from historical or traditional medical sources. The research involves an interdisciplinary approach to quantitative analyses of historical recipes in surviving medical books, and empirical tests of the antimicrobial activity of ingredients inspired by historical combinations. 

Winston Black holds the Gatto Chair of Christian Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a scholar of the history of religion and medicine in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, specializing in medieval herbalism, Christian healing practices, and the editing of Latin medical texts. He is the author or editor of five books, including Henry of Huntingdon. Anglicanus Ortus: A Verse Herbal of the Twelfth Century (2012), Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents (2020), and, most recently, Beyond Cadfael: Medieval Medicine and Medical Medievalism (2023), edited with Lucy Barnhouse.

Dianne Burke Moneypenny is a Professor of World Languages and Cultures at Indiana University East who specialises in Medieval Iberian Literature. She also serves as Director of the Honors Program and Student Research. Dr. Moneypenny's current relevant research includes co-editing a volume on Medieval Mediterranean women and food.