With the dominance of medicine over the past two hundred years, many historical concepts of health have undergone various changes. The definition of health depends on one's perspective, whether secular, professional or the influences of specific cultures or social ideals and health policies of a particular time or place (Fleming & Parker 2012, p.30, Naidoo & Wills 2000). exploration through history will reflect on the health philosophies of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the medieval concept of quarantine and isolation, and religious theories of disease, including a brief focus on the Renaissance. Next, a discussion of health concepts from the past two centuries, including 19th century health reform, the 20th century dominance of the medical model of health care. This article will examine the abandonment of the medical model and the concept of health promotion and multidisciplinary care in the 21st century, using allied health professionals. I will argue that attention to the achievements and failures of historical concepts of health provides health professionals with the opportunity to objectively decide which of these practices have relevance or are useful in developing new approaches to positive health outcomes. science was tied together when it came to health and daily life. Ruins throughout Greece and Italy testify to their ingenuity in creating and building infrastructure, but also to people's faith in the power and influence of the ancient gods to cure diseases (Krieger 2012, p.47, Hays 1998, p.9). According to Tountas (2009) the ancient Greeks were the first to break with mystical notions of health by reorienting "medicine towards a... medium of paper... a model of disease categories" in GL, Albrecht, R, Fitzpatrick, SC, Scrimshaw (ed.). 2003, The handbook of social Studies of Health and Medicine, pp. 9-23, Sage Publications, London, available at http://books.google.com.au Veith, I 1980, 'Changing Concepts of Health Care: An Historical's View' Western Journal Medicine, vol.133, n.6, pp .532-538Vlahov, D, Gibble, E, Freudenberg, N & Galea, S 2004, 'Cities and health: history, approaches, academic medicine, vol.79, n.12World Health Organization (WHO) 1986, The Charter of Ottawa for Health Promotion, Ottawa: Canadian Public Health Association. http://www.who.int/hpr/NPH/docs/ottawa_charter_hp.pdfYuil, C 2002, 'Concepts of health and medicine' in Barry, A and Yuil, C 2008, Understanding the sociology of health: an introduction 2a ed , pp.22-33, Sage Publications Ltd, London, available at http://books.google.com.au