Dr Florike Egmond

These plans for closure are madness. I read about them with horror and disbelief. And several comments by others on the Centre's intended closure made it even clearer to me than before how many people from very different branches and disciplines are (and have been) profiting from the Centre, its expertise and staff, and the meetings and conferences there. And I am not even mentioning the great library, which as anyone knowns who has ever dealt with collections, cannot thrive without an expert staff. And these are just a few of the aspects of the Centre which I have personally experienced.

The centre's closure will deprive the UK of the very best centre for the study of the history of medicine worldwide, and destroy a unique meeting point for expertise that has been built up over a very long period. I very much hope that those who command the resources will come to their senses.

Dr Florike Egmond
Clusius Project
Scaliger Institute
University of Leiden, The Netherlands