Summary/Abstract: In the last week of October 2016, Pharmacy Museum in Lisbon hosted threeday Symposium on the History of Health Sciences: Phármakon. ‘From the Combat of infi rmity to the invention of immortality’ (Congresso de História das Ciências da Saúde: Phármakon. Do combato da enfermidade à invençao da imortalidade). It is one of the most distinguished cultural institutions of Lisbon located in Alfama district, renowned for their impressive collection of artefacts related to 50 centuries of history of pharmacy in civilizations from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece, Islam, South America, China, Tibet, Japan, Africa to Modern Europe. Symposium was organized by Prometheus Institute from Lisbon in collaboration with several prominent scientifi c and academic university institutions from Portugal: Instituto IPAEHI – Associação para Estudos Históricos Interdisciplinares, CIDH-Cátedra Infante Dom Henrique Para os Estudos Insulares Atlânticos e a Globalização at University of Alberta, CITCEM-Transdisciplinary Research Cenre/Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar, CLEPUL-Research Centre of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon/Centro de Literaturas e Culturas Lusófonas e Europeias da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, National Pharmacy Association and Pharmacy Museum, and IECC PMA − Instituto Europeu de Ciências da Cultura Padre Manuel Antunes. Unconventional, but nonetheless attractive idea of the organizers was to host an interdisciplinary symposium based on primarily thorough historical research of participants, and to encompass overall humanities (and arts) and social sciences medical debates on the health sciences. It was a resounding success.
