Upcoming Lectures
Longevity for the World: Self and the Social Body in Early Modern China
Oct. 20, 2021
He Bian, PhD, Associate Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University
Our understanding of medical history in China also has been dominated by powerful men (and women) who sought self-perfection – or even immortality – through the art of medicine. In this talk, Bian highlights instead the rising prominence of the social body in printed medical texts since the 15th century, particularly the trope of “Longevity for the World” (shoushi).
Riots, Racism, and Urban Health Reform in the 1960s
Nov. 3, 2021
Merlin Chowkwanyun, PhD, Donald Gemson Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University
In the 1960s, racial uprisings across the United States put various elite institutions in American cities on the defensive. No longer could they ignore the suffering and anger of their most marginalized and ignored. Ritzy medical centers were no exception. This talk will explore the experience of South Central Los Angeles and the East Side of Cleveland during this era. It will consider implications for the present, a time of renewed attention to racial inequality and the civic responsibilities of medical centers to the neighborhoods that surround them.
Previous Lectures
Bernard Becker Medical Library, in collaboration with the Center for the History of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, presents this lecture series on the history of medicine. Past speakers and their lectures are listed below.
| Video | Lecture |
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Susan L. Burns, PhD 79th Historia Medica Lecture “” April 21, 2021 |
| Marquis Berrey, PhD 78th Historia Medica Lecture “The Hidden History of Medical Risk: Examples from Premodern Surgery” March 25, 2021 |
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| James L. Nolan, Jr., PhD 77th Historia Medica Lecture “Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age” February 24, 2021 |
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Suzanne Karr Schmidt 76th Historia Medica Lecture “Plagues, Practitioners and Prints: Visualizing Pre-Modern Medical Know-How” November 18, 2020 |
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Cristin Kearns, DDS, MBA 75th Historia Medica Lecture “Parallels Between the Sugar and Tobacco Industries: A First Glimpse at Sugar Industry Documents” October 27, 2020 |
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Bess Brander, MA, MLIS 74th Historia Medica Lecture “Maesters, Greyscale, and Milk of the Poppy: Medicine in ‘Game of Thrones’” February 19, 2020 |
| Candace O’Connor, MA 73rd Historia Medica Lecture “Climbing the Ladder, Chasing the Dream: The History of Homer G. Phillips Hospital” January 22, 2020 |
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| Christina Ramos, PhD 72nd Historia Medica Lecture “The Inquisitor’s Laboratory: Madness, the Insanity, and the New World’s First Mental Hospital” November 13, 2019 |
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| Anita Guerrini, PhD 71st Historia Medica Lecture “The Courtiers’ Anatomists: Animals and Humans in Louis XIV’s Paris” October 16, 2019 |
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| William Powderly, MD 70th Historia Medica Lecture “Are Infectious Diseases Confined to History?” April 25, 2019 |
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| Gregory Storch, MD 69th Historia Medica Lecture “Why are Vaccines so Controversial?” March 14, 2019 |
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| Shanti Parikh, PhD, Rachel Presti, MD, PhD, and Bradley Stoner, MD, PhD 68th Historia Medica Lecture “STDs Across Time and Space: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives” February 28, 2019 |
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| Stephen A. Logsdon, MA, MLIS 67th Historia Medica Lecture “A Benevolent Purpose: Celebrating 140 Years of St. Louis Children’s Hospital” January 31, 2019 |
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| Christopher Alan Gordon, MA 66th Historia Medica Lecture “Avoid Crowds as Much as Possible: Stories from the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic in St. Louis” January 17, 2019 |
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| Nukhet Varlik, PhD 65th Historia Medica Lecture “Five Hundred Years of Plague in Ottoman History: Rethinking the Second Pandemic” November 8, 2018 |
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| Nancy Bristow, PhD 64th Historia Medica Lecture “I thought my eyes would never see such horror: Health Care Providers and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918” October 11, 2018 |
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| Jonathan Sawday, PhD 63rd Historia Medica Lecture “Easing the Distressed Mind: Robert Burton and the Anatomy of Melancholy” April 5, 2018 |
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| Corinna Treitel, PhD 62nd Historia Medica Lecture “Nature and the Nazi Diet” March 8, 2018 |
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| Philip Skroska, MLitt, CA 61st Historia Medica Lecture “And We Won’t Come Back Till It’s Over, Over There” February 22, 2018 |
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| Lewis Chase 60th Historia Medica Lecture “Fuller Albright: Pioneer in the Field of Endocrinology” January 18, 2018 |
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| William Owens, MD 59th Historia Medica Lecture “History of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Hospital, 1910-1992” November 9, 2017 |
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| David J. Morris, MA, MFA 58th Historia Medica Lecture “What We Talk About When We Talk About PTSD” October 4, 2017 |
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| Richard Brasington, MD 57th Historia Medica Lecture “A Brief History of Informed Consent in the United States” March 16, 2017 |
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| Elisabeth Brander, MA, MLS 56th Historia Medica Lecture “Books and Bodies: 500 Years of Printing Medical Texts” February 16, 2017 |
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| Stephen Lefrak, MD 55th Historia Medical Lecture “The Living Heritage of John Locke and his Colleagues: From the Enlightenment through Tomorrow” January 12, 2017 |
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| William G. Powderly, MD 54th Historia Medica Lecture “How Infection Shaped America: Lessons from Irish Famine” November 10, 2016 |
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| Paola Bertucci, DPhil and Stanley Finger, PhD 53rd Historia Medica Lecture “Frankenstein, the Vital Force, and Electricity” October 6, 2016 |
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| Mark J. Mannis, MD FACS 52nd Historia Medica/6th Annual Bohigian Lectureship “Shakespeare’s Eye: A Study of the Eye in Disease and Metaphor in the Works of William Shakespeare” September 28, 2016 |
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| L. Lewis, Wall, MD, DPhil 51st Historia Medica Lecture “Goat Gland Messiah: The Bizarre Rise and Spectacular Fall of Dr. John R. Brinkley” April 21, 2016 |
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| Alisha Rankin, PhD 50th Historia Medica Lecture “Poison Trials: Testing Antidotes in Early Modern Europe” March 10, 2016 |
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| Marc R. Moon, MD 49th Historia Medica Lecture “History of Thoracic Surgery at Washington University” January 21, 2016 |
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| Luis Alejandro Salas 48th Historia Medica Lecture “The Licensing Function of Galenic Anatomical Procedures, Text, and Practice” November 12, 2015 |
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| Candace O’Connor 47th Historia Medica lecture “Harriet, Hirrel, Jessie and a Few Surprises: Earliest Women at Washington University School of Medicine” October 22, 2015 |
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| Ira J. Kodner, MD 46th Historia Medica Lecture “Medical Ethics and Frankenstein’s Monster” September 17, 2015 |
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| Antonella Rastelli, M.D. 45th Historia Medica Lecture “Heart to Heart: The Life and Letters of Dr. Giancarlo Rastelli, Pioneer of Cardiothoracic Surgery” March 26, 2015 |
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| Will Ross, M.D. 44th Historia Medica Lecture “Urban Health and the History of Public Hospitals in the US” March 12, 2015 |
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| Stanley Misler, MD, PhD 43rd Historia Medica Lecture “The Isolated Pancreatic Islet as a Micro-Organ and its Transplantation to Cure Diabetes: Celebrating the Legacy of Paul Lacy” February 19, 2015 |
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| Susan E. Mackinnon, M.D. 42nd Historia Medica Lecture “Nerve Transfers: A 19th Century Idea Revolutionizes 21st Century Care of Nerve Injury” December 4, 2014 |
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| Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D. 41st Historia Medica Lecture “Residency Training in the United States: Past, Present, Future” November 13, 2014 |
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| Michael Marmor, MD 40th Historia Medica Lecture “Vision and History: Looking Through an Artist’s Eyes” October 1, 2014 |
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| Garland “Gar” Allen, Ph.D. 39th Historia Medica Lecture “Biology of Elimination: Eugenics and the Consequences of Genocentrism, 1900-1945” September 11, 2014 |
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| Robert M. Feibel, M.D. 38th Historia Medica Lecture “Paul A. Cibis, M.D.: A St. Louis Pioneer of Modern Vitreoretinal Surgery” April 10, 2014 |
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| Holly Tucker, Ph.D. 37th Historia Medica Lecture “Early Blood Transfusion: Science, Society and Lessons from the Past for the Medical Future” March 27, 2014 |
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| Sara van den Berg, Ph.D. 36th Historia Medica Lecture “Cultural Meanings of the Dwarf Body” February 27, 2014 |
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| Todd L. Savitt, Ph.D. 35th Historia Medica Lecture “Race, Medicine, Authorship and the ‘Discovery’ of Sickle Cell Disease, 1910-1911” January 9, 2014 |
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| Robert C. Kolodny, M.D. 34th Historia Medica Lecture “Unraveling the Mysteries of Human Sexuality: The Masters and Johnson Story” November 21, 2013 |
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| Anne Stiles, Ph.D. 33rd Historia Medica Lecture “Bram Stroker’s Brother, the Brain Surgeon” October 16, 2013 |
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| James G. Ravin, M.D. 32nd Historia Medica Lecture / Bohigian Lectureship for the History of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences “Eye Diseases of Famous Artists” October 9, 2013 |
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| Alan J. McComas, M.D. 31st Historia Medica Lecture / William M. Landau Lectureship “Insights and Impulse” September 26, 2013 |
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| Mark Frisse, M.D., M.B.A, M.Sc. 30th Historia Medica Lecture “Biomedical Information: Past, Present and Future” April 18, 2013 |
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| Joseph K. Hanaway, M.D 29th Historia Medica Lecture “McGill Medicine: 1829-1996” April 11, 2013 |
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| Ken Winn, Ph.D. 28th Historia Medica Lecture “A Cynic Admires an Eccentric: Mark Twain and Washington University’s Dr. Joseph McDowell” March 7, 2013 |
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| Adrianne Noe, Ph.D. 27th Historia Medica Lecture “The National Museum of Health and Medicine: a Lecture in Commemoration of its 150th Anniversary” January 31, 2013 |
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| Marion Hunt, Ph.D. 26th Historia Medica Lecture “An Ever-Widening Sphere: Dr. Martha Eliot’s Career” December 6, 2012 |
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| Thomas Danisi 25th Historia Medica Lecture “A New Perspective on the Death of Meriwether Lewis” November 15, 2012 |
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| Robert Feibel, M.D. 24th Historia Medica Lecture “Simon Pollak and Ophthalmology In St. Louis during the Civil War” April 12, 2012 |
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| Robert L. Grubb, Jr., M.D. 23rd Historia Medica Lecture “Developing Academic Neurosurgery Leadership: The Legacy of Ernest Sachs and Henry Schwartz” February 23, 2012 |
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| Eva Mozes Kor 22nd Historia Medica Lecture “The Lessons I Learned in Mengele’s Lab” September 8, 2011 |
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| Memory Elvin-Lewis, Ph.D. 21st Historia Medica Lecture “AIDS before AIDS in St. Louis – If the Shoe Fits: A retrospective discovery” March 31, 2011 |
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| Jerry Cox, Ph.D. 20th Historia Medica Lecture “Small Computers in Biomedical Science: the developers and their machines, ancestors and progeny” January 20, 2011 |
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| Candace O’Connor 19th Historia Medica Lecture “Transforming Medical Education: Pritchett, Flexner, and Brookings” November 1, 2010 |
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| Amy Eisen Cislo, Ph.D. 18th Historia Medica Lecture “Diagnosing Sex: The Theories and Contributions of Paracelsus (1493-1541) to Pharmacological Medicine” April 15, 2010 |
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| Ellen S. More, Ph.D. 17th Historia Medica Lecture “Political Change, Personal Stories: 1849–2009 (Changing the Face of Medicine)” August 13, 2009 |
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| Angela N. H. Creager, Ph.D. 16th Historia Medica Lecture “Atoms for Peace and Health: The Consequences of the Manhattan Project for Biology and Medicine” June 8, 2009 |
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| Barbara Baumgartner, Ph.D. 15th Historia Medica Lecture “Anatomy Lessons: Reading the Body in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry” November 20, 2008 |
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| Caroline Hillard 14th Historia Medica Lecture “Realdo Colombo and Michelangelo: Anatomy Lessons from Renaissance Rome” April 17, 2008 |
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| Rebecca Messbarger, Ph.D. 13th Historia Medica Lecture “Theatrum Corporis: Pope Benedict XIV’s Wax Musuem of Human Anatomy” November 15, 2007 |
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| Thomas A. Woolsey, M.D. 12th Historia Medica Lecture “Seeing Ideas: Insight from Interplay Between Artists, Physicians & Scientists” April 19, 2007 |
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| Lewis L. Wall, M.D., Ph.D. 11th Historia Medica Lecture “Did J. Marion Sims Deliberately Addict His First Fistula Patients to Opium?” November 15, 2006 |
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| Marjorie Lorch, PhD 10th Historia Medica Lecture “Eighteenth Century Perspectives on Language, Mind and Brain from the Writings of Jonathan Swift” April 3, 2006 |
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| Michael A. Flannery 9th Historia Medica Lecture “Civil War Pharmacy” November 3, 2005 |
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| Stanley Finger, Ph.D. 8th Historia Medica Lecture “Benjamin Franklin: Pioneer of Medical Electricity” April 21, 2005 |
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| Robert Frank, Jr., Ph.D. 7th Historia Medica Lecture “Nobelists and the Neurosciences at Washington University, 1918-1944” November 11, 2004 |
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| Conevery Bolton Valencius, Ph.D. 6th Historia Medica Lecture “Bad Airs, Good Waters, and Healthy Places: Health and Environment in the Nineteenth Century West” March 23, 2004 |
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| James Whorton, Ph.D. 5th Historia Medica Lecture “From Cultism to CAM: The Rise of Alternative Medicine” October 23, 2003 |
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| Walton O. Schalick III, M.D., Ph.D. 4th Historia Medica Lecture “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones: Opiates, Pain, and Professional Medicine in the Middle Ages” April 17, 2003 |
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| Shelley McKellar, Ph.D. 3rd Historia Medica Lecture “Artificial Hearts: Technology and Organ Replacement in Twentieth Century Medicine” October 10, 2002 |
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| Kenneth Ludmerer, M.D., Ph.D. 2nd Historia Medica Lecture “The American Medical Student: a History” March 7, 2002 |
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| Jonathon Erlen, Ph.D. 1st Historia Medica Lecture “Human Experimentation in Twentieth Century American Medicine” October 24, 2001 |