# HISTSCI 1770: Broken Brains: A Patient-Centered History Semester: Spring | Year offered: 2027 | Link: [Course Website](https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/178266) Thursday - 12:00-2:45 PM with Professor Anne Harrington An exploration of the complex relationship between doctors and scientists who study and treat different kinds of “broken brains,” the patients they study and treat, and larger public conversations about being human in today’s neurological society. Topics include iconic cases of brain damage that catalyze new scientific understandings (like the case of H.M.), the study of brain damage in war, the emergence of writings (including memoirs and novels) that attempt to describe "what it is like" to suffer from disorders like autism and Alzheimer’s, and controversies over recent efforts to see psychiatric disorders like depression as simple products of a chemically “broken brain.” --- [### Anne Harrington ](/people/anne-harrington) Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science Director of Undergraduate Studies Areas of Research: History of Medicine, Human Sciences, Medical Humanities, Psychiatry and Mental Health, Mind-Body Medicine, Neuroscience, Consciousness Studies Anne Harrington is the Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, specializing in... ![Portrait of Anne Harrington sitting in a classroom](/sites/g/files/omnuum9516/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-12/230110_1358679.jpg.1500x999_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg?h=86c3a961&itok=kPVxH3-8)