Marilyn Monroe at 100: the face, the fantasy, the fortune

I am a historian and writer of medicine, emotion and the body. Since being awarded my PhD in 2000, I have researched and published extensively on the meanings of health, medicine, emotions and the body, in the past and in the present.

My books include Matters of the Heart (2010), This Mortal Coil (2016), A Biography of Loneliness (2019) and The Face: A Cultural History (2026). I am currently writing a history of body modification for Profile Books.

My work has featured in many international media outlets, including the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Guardian, TIME, The Telegraph, CNN and BBC Radio. I am a TED speaker and consultant on emotions, embodiment and how humans live well with technology of all kinds.

In 2019 I became one of the first UKRI Future Leaders Fellows, to undertake leading research into the emotions and ethics of face transplants. In 2023 I moved that project, AboutFace, to King’s College London, where I am Professor of Modern History. I established the Centre for Technology and the Body, which I directed for three years, and rebranded my UKRI-funded project as Interface, extending my work on face transplants into all aspects of innovative technology that touch on human bodies and experience.

My research into what it means to live well, with our bodies, our emotions and our technologies, now also informs my executive coaching with leaders and businesses. I trained in leadership at London Business School and in coaching through the UKRI Future Leaders Development Programme, and I am completing the Tavistock Institute’s Executive Coaching Programme.

My literary agent is Adam Gauntlett at Peters Fraser + Dunlop. For speaking engagements, coaching enquiries or interviews, please email me:  FayBoundAlberti@protonmail.com