Justin Rivest joined the Department of History in fall 2021. He studies early modern France, the history of science, medicine and technology.

Justin's research explores the early modern origins of the pharmaceutical industry and royal monopoly privileges (the ancestors of modern drug patents). He is completing a book on early pharmaceutical monopolists and their role in supplying standardized drugs to large scale consumers such as the French army, navy, overseas trading companies, and missionary societies circa 1670-1750.

He teaches courses on the history of early modern Europe, French history, and the role of alchemy, astrology and magic in early modern science and medicine.

Prior to joining Kenyon, Justin was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge and a research fellow at Clare Hall. He grew up on a farm in southwestern Ontario and earned a BHum (2008) and MA in History (2010) from Carleton University and a PhD in the history of medicine (2016) from Johns Hopkins University. His work has appeared in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, The Canadian Journal of History, Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Areas of Expertise

Early Modern France; History of Science; History of Medicine

Education

2016 — Doctor of Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University

2010 — Master of Arts from Carleton University

2008 — Bachelor of Humanities from Carleton University

Courses Recently Taught