The main goal of this project is to analyse the ways in which ancient Hebrew, like ancient Tibetan, is a case of medical syncretism deriving from what is termed eastern and western medical traditions. Having initiated collaborative work on different aspects of cross-Asian transmissions of knowledge (as part of the Islam and Tibet , Medicine along the Silk Roads and Rashid al-Din projects, see list of publications), it has become clear that still missing from this newly emerging picture is the role of Jewish networks, encompassing Jewish physicians, pharmacists and traders, who had a major role in the trans- Asian and cross-cultural medical exchanges. This project will build on the work I have conducted so far on the multi-cultural aspects of Tibetan medicine. It will analyse the Hebrew Book of Assaf, as a syncretic text bringing together Greek, Hebrew and Indian medical knowledge and practice. The study of this text is extremely important for the history of early medicine, as it is a unique exemplar of a Sassanid period medical compendium. As such, its study is vital for a better understanding not only of Jewish, but also of Islamic, early European and Asian medicine. In assessing cross-Asian links in medical knowledge, the project will build on my personal and collaborative research in previous projects in the last five years, and progress to the next necessary stage, focusing on two main themes: 1. How did medical knowledge move across Asia? 2. What was the nature of the knowledge which moved? Dealing with Hebrew sources, this project will deal with the role of Jewish physicians, pharmacists and traders, who had a major role in the trans-Asian and cross- cultural medical exchanges. A main focus of the project will be a first of its kind multi-cultural analysis of the hugely important, yet understudied, Book of Assaf, an early (pre-Islamic) Hebrew medical compendium. As in the case of Tibetan medical histories, which present Tibetan medicine as a synthesis between Greek, Indian and Chinese medical systems, the Book of Assaf in its medical history section also presents its knowledge as deriving from the great traditions around it: the Greek, th e Egyptian and the Indian. This parallel description in the medical histories raises the interest in a comparative analysis regarding medical content as well, focusing on processes of transmission and adaptation of medical knowledge.

Meaningful dreams, visions and coincidences are a remarkably common feature of the dying process. While patients and families report their profound spiritual significance, mainstream clinical literature explains them in materialist terms. This project asks how health professionals respond to such events on the ground, whether they reflect this materialist approach or if there are examples of healthworkers engaging in more ontologically and epistemologically open ways. The research will explore how philosophical responses influence the day-to-day practices of care. It will also ask whether variation in interpretations of such events runs along existing lines of social or cultural difference among both healthworkers and patients. I will take a methodologically interdisciplinary approach combining an ethnography of a hospice in-patient unit (utilising my experience as a palliative care nurse) with narrative interviews of staff who have responded to deathbed experiences. Drawing on feminist care theory, science and technology studies and the medical humanities this study will explore the significance of responses to deathbed phenomena for both clinical knowledge practices and patient care. People often experience meaningful dreams and visions in the last days of their life. Healthcare professionals who work with dying patients acknowledge these events, even using them to predict when someone is likely to die. However the content of these experiences tend to be dismissed as unreal. This can create a disconnect with patients / families who often find them emotionally and spiritually valuable. Does this disconnect affect the ability of healthworkers to effectively care for patients in such moments? Arguably if something is not real, it does not matter and things that do not matter do not require care. Through working in a hospice and interviewing health professionals my project will explore whether this is the case or whether nurses, doctors and other staff do take these experiences seriously. If so, what are the consequences for how we understand what matters and what does not in medicine more broadly?

The main goal of this project is to analyse the ways in which ancient Hebrew, like ancient Tibetan, is a case of medical syncretism deriving from what is termed eastern and western medical traditions. Having initiated collaborative work on different aspects of cross-Asian transmissions of knowledge (as part of the Islam and Tibet , Medicine along the Silk Roads and Rashid al-Din projects, see list of publications), it has become clear that still missing from this newly emerging picture is the role of Jewish networks, encompassing Jewish physicians, pharmacists and traders, who had a major role in the trans- Asian and cross-cultural medical exchanges. This project will build on the work I have conducted so far on the multi-cultural aspects of Tibetan medicine. It will analyse the Hebrew Book of Assaf, as a syncretic text bringing together Greek, Hebrew and Indian medical knowledge and practice. The study of this text is extremely important for the history of early medicine, as it is a unique exemplar of a Sassanid period medical compendium. As such, its study is vital for a better understanding not only of Jewish, but also of Islamic, early European and Asian medicine. In assessing cross-Asian links in medical knowledge, the project will build on my personal and collaborative research in previous projects in the last five years, and progress to the next necessary stage, focusing on two main themes: 1. How did medical knowledge move across Asia? 2. What was the nature of the knowledge which moved? Dealing with Hebrew sources, this project will deal with the role of Jewish physicians, pharmacists and traders, who had a major role in the trans-Asian and cross- cultural medical exchanges. A main focus of the project will be a first of its kind multi-cultural analysis of the hugely important, yet understudied, Book of Assaf, an early (pre-Islamic) Hebrew medical compendium. As in the case of Tibetan medical histories, which present Tibetan medicine as a synthesis between Greek, Indian and Chinese medical systems, the Book of Assaf in its medical history section also presents its knowledge as deriving from the great traditions around it: the Greek, th e Egyptian and the Indian. This parallel description in the medical histories raises the interest in a comparative analysis regarding medical content as well, focusing on processes of transmission and adaptation of medical knowledge.