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Staff Profile

Dr Colin Millard

Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology

  • Email: colin.millard@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute, 5th Floor, Ridley Building 1
    Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU
Background

My background is in medical anthropology and the social anthropology of South Asia and Tibet. Previously I have worked at Edinburgh University teaching anthropology, as co-ordinator of the programmes in the Center for South Asian Studies, and as part of a team of researchers looking at access to medicines in India, Uganda and South Africa.


I have also worked as Research Associate at Cardiff University on a research project focusing on a Tibetan medical hospital and school in west Tibet, and traditional medical practice in northeast Tibet. Before coming to Newcastle I worked in the Global Health Unit at Queen Mary University of London, first as Research Fellow in Social and Cultural Aspects of Clinical Trials and then as Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology and co-ordinator of the BSc in Global Health and the intercalated BSc in Global Health.


I am currently Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology in the Population Health Sciences Institute, Senior Tutor, Public Health, Oncology and Clinical Research, and Global Health Module Lead



Research

I have carried out extensive fieldwork in Nepal, India and Tibet on various aspects of traditional medical practice, the use of ritual in healing, the Bon religion of Tibet, and forms social and political identity, mostly in the Himalayan region. I carried out my first fieldwork on patterns of pluralistic health care in Ladakh, the north-east Himalayan region of the Indian State of Kashmir and Jammu in 1992. In 1996 I carried out 18 months fieldwork on learning processes in a Tibetan medical school and health care practices in the Tibetan medicine clinic in the valley of Dhorpatan in the Baglung district of west Nepal. From 2002, I carried out research over a period 2 years in clinics of Tibetan medicine in the United Kingdom. In 2008 I was awarded a grant by the Leverhulme Trust for £150,256 to carry out a 3 year project on ‘Tradition and Modernity in a Bon Medical School and Hospital in West Tibet (£150,256). In 2012, I was employed at Edinburgh University as Research Fellow, on a 3 year research project funded under the European Union’s Framework 7, Accessing Medicines in Africa and South Asia (AMASA). The research focused on the supply chain of six essential medicines in South Africa, Uganda and India. In the last decade my research has increasingly focused on the social and cultural aspects of medical technologies, access to medicine, medicine regulation and global health.


Research Expertise

  • Global Health and Global Health Governance
  • Anthropology of Pharmaceuticals
  • The regulation of Medical Technologies
  • Asian Medicine
  • Complementary and Alternative Medicines
  • Social Networks
  • The Anthropology of Tibet and South Asia

Teaching

I am currently Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology in the Population Health Sciences Institute, Senior Tutor, Public Health, Oncology and Clinical Research, and Global Health Module Lead


Supervision


I am currently supervising 2 PhD students. I am happy to supervise new research students whose projects are within my research expertise.

Publications

  • Articles

  • Book Chapters

    • Millard C, Samphel N. The Treatment of Poisons in the Khyungtrul Menpe. In: Yungdrung, T Y; Ramble, C, ed. Celebrating 100 Years of Wisdom: Honouring His Eminence Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoches' 100th Birthday. 2025.
    • Millard C, Samphel N. The Annual Lu Torma Ritual in Jharkot. In: EHM, C C; Cueppers, C, ed. Walking Nebulous Mountain Slopes: Exploring Healing Practices in the Himalayas. Lumbini International Research Institute, 2024.
    • Millard C, Samphel N. Bon Medicine in Mustang: The Medical Practice of Amchi Nyima Samphel. In: Ehm, C C; Cueppers, C, ed. Walking Nebulous Mountain Slopes: Exploring Healing Practices in the Himalayas. Lumbini International Research Institute, 2024.
    • Millard C. Two Bon Nagpa Healing Rituals in Mustang. In: Ramble, C; Roesler, U, ed. Tibetan and Himalayan Healing: an Anthology for Anthony Aris. Vajra Books, 2015.
    • Millard C. Bon Religion in Reb kong. In: Dhondup,Y. Pagel,U. Samuel,G, ed. Monastic and Lay Traditions in North-Eastern Tibet. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
    • Millard C. Illness Narratives and Idioms of Meaning in Two Tibetan Medical Clinics, forthcoming. In: Schrempf, M; Craig, A; Garrett, F; Tshomo, M, ed. Medicine, Health, and Modernity: Proceedings from the XIth International Association of Tibetan Studies Meetings. Bonn: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, Contributions to Research on Central Asia Series, 2010.
    • Millard C. The Integration of Tibetan Medical Practice in the UK: the Clinics of the Tara Institute of Tibetan Medicine. In: Pordie, L, ed. Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World: Global Politics of Medical Knowledge and Practice. 2008.
    • Millard C. Tibetan Medicine and the Classification and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders. In: Schrempf, M, ed. Soundings in Tibetan Medicine: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies 2003. 2007. In Preparation.
    • Millard C. Democracy and Dissent in Nepal: An Overview With Some Perceptions from the Valley of Dhorpatan. In: Gellner, D, ed. Resistance and the State in Nepal. 2002.
    • Millard C. Democracy and Dissent in Nepal: an Overview with Some Perceptions from the Valley of Dhorpatan. In: Gellner, D, ed. Resistance and the State in Nepal. New Delhi: Social Science Press. (New edition 2006 from Berghahn, Oxford and New York), 2002. In Preparation.

  • Online Publication