Healthy Scepticism: Tales of Doubt, Dissent and Distrust in Medicine by Caitjan Gainty

Wednesday 17 June 2026 | 17.00 – 19.00 | 8th floor open space, Strand Building, Strand Campus, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS

This event marks the publication of Caitjan Gainty’s Healthy
Scepticism (Hurst Publishers), a vital new account of medical
distrust for our contentious times.

In today’s medical world, scepticism is marginalised: dissenting doctors
and uncertain patients are seen as hardly more rational than anti-vaxx
conspiracists or questionable wellness gurus. Yet legitimate doubts have
been raised throughout human history – and persist for a reason.This sharp, compassionate book rejects unhelpful binary thinking to
explore the vast middle ground where we all really live. Many of us need
medicine, and trust science – but still feel wary of big pharma, unsure
about new treatments, and let down by a healthcare culture that gaslights
and prejudges as often as it helps or heals. From chronic sufferers to
minoritized communities, Healthy Scepticism tells the stories of
medicine’s critics, victims and outsiders, and unveils the illogical thinking
that created both modern medicine and its many sceptics.Entertaining, enlightening and occasionally enraging, the book revisits
our ancient tradition of distrusting doctors and prescribes a new course
of treatment. With a well-founded dose of doubt, we can see medicine’s
successes and shortcomings – and understand where our broken system
went wrong.

Caitjan Gainty is an award-winning writer; a historian of medicine at
King’s College, London; and the author of The Product of Medicine. Her
work on health scepticism and the history of healthcare can be found
across outlets in the UK and US, including the Conversation, the Times,
Guardian, BBC, Washington Post, Scientific American, Smithsonian
Magazine, and Slate among others.

For general enquiries, please contact Francisca Valenzuela (francisca.valenzuela_villaseca@kcl.ac.uk)