The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman’s face makes her look quite friendly – there’s a problem with that

Since finishing my doctorate 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 work has featured in many international media outlets, including the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Guardian, CNN and BBC Radio. I am a TED speaker and consultant on loneliness and mental health.

In 2019 I became one of the first UKRI Future Leaders Fellows, to undertaking leading research into the emotions and ethics of face transplants. You can find out more about AboutFace here.

I am currently Professor of Modern History at King’s College London, where AboutFace has evolved into the Interface project, exploring the surgery of face transplants alongside other technologies of the face – analogue and digital. I direct the Digital Futures Institute’s Centre for Technology and the Body, which explores all aspects of embodiment, medicine, health and emotions in the past, present and future.

My literary agent is Adam Gauntlett at Peters, Fraser + Dunlop.