Biography

Tom Behrendt is a doctoral researcher in the Medical Humanities. His academic interests lie in the (cultural) history of medicine, hospitals, and the body.

Tom completed his master’s degree at the Institute for Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Amsterdam. In addition to various student assistant positions at Humboldt-Universität (2019–2022), his academic trajectory includes a role as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (2022–2024). Tom is also actively involved as a volunteer with the Berliner Unionhilfswerk, where he supports the development of a historical archive.

In his doctoral project, "Vom Austritt zum Anschluss: Die Genese des Arztbriefs und die transsektorale Medizin in der Schweiz 1900–1960", Tom advocates for a shift in historiographical perspectivization. Focusing on the discharge report, he conceptualizes the hospital discharge not as an endpoint but as a starting point for reconstructing the history of the continuity of care within the framework of medical correspondence.