medical history

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• SOURCE: NIH Director's Blog
  4/15/2021
  

  Fauci Donates Model to Smithsonian’s COVID-19 Collection

  Dr. Anthony Fauci's model of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a prop in numerous informational sessions since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, the plastic germ will reside in the Smithsonian's collections. 

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• SOURCE: WEMU
  4/12/2021
  

  U-M Medical Historian Says It Appears History Is Repeating Itself In Our Current Pandemic

  Medical Historian Alex Navarro warns that resistance to vaccines and public health measures are likely to prolong the COVID pandemic the way they did the 1919 influenza. 

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• SOURCE: History.com
  4/9/2021
  

  The First ‘Vaccine Passports’ Were Scars from Smallpox Vaccinations

  Faced with unreliable and falsifiable documentation, public health authorities at the turn of the 20th century demanded physical proof of vaccination: the scarring left by the early technique, says smallpox historian Michael Willrich.

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• SOURCE: BBC
  4/12/2021
  

  How US History Explains Vaccine Passport Skepticism

  Opposition to requiring documentary proof of vaccination to participate in some activities is rooted both in the weak traditions of public health in the United States and legitimate fears that such "passports" will work to disadvantage the poor, minorities, and others who are less able to access vaccination. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/10/2021
  

  A Once-in-a-Century Crisis Can Help Educate Doctors

  by Molly Worthen

  The COVID-19 pandemic has offered valuable lessons on the necessity of humanistic education in the training of medical professionals. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/25/2021
  

  Listen: A History of Pandemic Xenophobia and Racism

  Historical examples abound of public health crises exacerbating racial tensions and exclusions. Medical historian Alexandre White discusses his work on a plague pandemic in early 20th century South Africa 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  3/25/2021
  

  Did the Black Death Rampage Across the World a Century Earlier Than Previously Thought?

  The application of DNA testing technology to the bodies of people from the medieval era suggests that the Black Death was present much earlier than believed. 

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• SOURCE: Scientific American
  3/20/2021
  

  We Need Social Science, Not Just Medical Science, to Beat the Pandemic

  by Nicholas Dirks

  "In order to ensure that scientific advances work not just to create new medicines but to help lead to a healthier and more just world, we need to ensure that science and social science work hand in hand as well."

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• SOURCE: Stat
  3/16/2021
  

  Nazi Anatomical Drawings are Donated in Effort to Address Ethical Quandary — and Spotlight a Dark History

  The Pernkopf Atlas of anatomy was an unmatched documenting of the nervous and circulatory system. But it was created by Nazi doctors and partly based on the examination of the bodies of people executed by Nazis. A long effort to resolve the ethical dilemma inherent in its use has resulted in the donation of the illustrations to the Medical University of Vienna. 

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• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  3/22/2021
  

  Medical Racism has Shaped U.S. Policies for Centuries

  by Dierdre Cooper Owens

  Medical racism is as old as America, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception in terms of unequal vulnerability to disease. 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  3/10/2021
  

  How Failed Quarantines Led to 20th-Century Measles Outbreaks

  Misperception of the severity of measles contributed to loosely enforced and poorly observed quarantining around periodic outbreaks of the disease. 

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• 3/14/2021
  

  Remembering the Father of Vaccination

  by Richard Gunderman

  "Whether or not Jenner truly saved more lives than any other person, there is no doubt that his pioneering work on immunization laid the groundwork for today’s most effective tool against COVID-19, the vaccine."

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• 2/28/2021
  

  The "War on Cancer" at 50: The Most Fruitful Failure in Human History

  by Judith L. Pearson

  Announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, the "War on Cancer" has not yielded a cure. But it has driven research that has deepened understanding of cancers and developed life-saving treatments, while erasing ignorance and stigma. It has been one of humanity's most successful failures. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  2/24/2021
  

  Many Black Americans Aren’t Rushing to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine – A Long History of Medical Abuse Suggests Why

  by Esther Jones

  From J. Marion Sims to the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments to the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks' DNA, there are ample historical reasons for Black Americans to feel that medical authorities are unconcerned with their safety and mistrust new COVID vaccines. Acknowledging this history is essential for public health authorities to gain trust. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/22/2021
  

  We’re Just Rediscovering a 19th-Century Pandemic Strategy

  by Sarah Zhang

  “We’ve gotten so good at preventing so many diseases, there’s been a loss of knowledge and a loss of experience,” Jeanne Kisacky, the author of Rise of the Modern Hospital, says.

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• 2/21/2021
  

  Who Deserves Credit for Inventing Vaccination? And Why Does it Matter Today?

  by John Rhodes

  Historical honesty requires acknowledging the African and Asian inoculation practices that preceded and enabled Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine. Telling this story more broadly might also encourage vulnerable communities of color to embrace the COVID vaccine.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  2/12/2021
  

  Medical Racism has Shaped U.S. Policies for Centuries

  by Deirdre Cooper Owens

  Medical racism over centuries has "created a system of belief and practice that allowed doctors to place blame on Black people for not having the same health outcomes as White people."

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• SOURCE: Altoona Mirror
  2/1/2021
  

  Penn State Professor Studying Stories of Spanish Flu Survivors

  An accidental archival discovery led John Eicher to examine testimonials of European survivors of the 1918 influenza pandemic; the subsequent COVID pandemic made his developing research suddenly relevant to the news. 

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• SOURCE: The Metropole
  2/2/2021
  

  African Americans At St. Elizabeth’s — A Review Of Madness In The City Of Magnificent Expectations

  Martin Summers' book on Washington's Saint Elizabeth's Hospital shows how early mental health institutions differentiated the Black and White psyches in diagnosis and care, exposing the role of psychiatry in maintaining and institutionalizing racial inequality, writes reviewer Debra Kram-Fernandez.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  2/1/2021
  

  The Key to Combating Conspiracy Theories about Coronavirus Vaccines

  by Cameron Givens

  Historical knowledge of the roots of misinformation about viruses and vaccination will be essential to overcoming it.