Medical History Interest Group Lecture Series Archives
Since 2001, the Medical History Interest Group has been providing a broad and fascinating look at the history of the health sciences from some of the brightest speakers across East Carolina University and the world.
Fall 2024
Medical Ethics on the Battlefield: The Misunderstood Case of Penicillin in WWII
This presentation presents research that reexamines the case of penicillin use during World War II, often cited as a classic example of reverse triage in military medical ethics. Unlike traditional triage, reverse triage prioritizes soldiers with less severe injuries for quick treatment to return them to battle, notably favoring those with sexually transmitted infections over the critically injured. The authors argue that penicillin allocation during WWII did not adhere to the reverse triage principle and this work challenges the simplistic narratives surrounding this case, arguing that the case serves as an example of evolving medical practice, resource allocation, ethically sound research, and ethical decision-making in the context of wartime.
Presented by Sheena M. Eagan, MPH PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies
December 2, 2024
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Spring 2023
The Country Doctor and Early Medical Practices
This presentation includes an introduction of the Country Doctor Museum, some early medical treatments and the use of patented medications. Dangers of some patented medications that contained toxic substances will also be discussed. Some discussion of medical items in the Country Doctor Museum collection.
Highlighted will be the development of two scientific instruments used in early study and treatment of diseases, the microscope and stethoscope. Also, presented will be some 19th century doctors’ decisions to use surgical intervention in traumatic injuries and amputations. A brief discussion of Joseph Lister and his antiseptic surgery will also be included.
Presented by James Allen Bailey, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Law Enforcement Minnesota State University Mankato
April 12, 2023
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‘What are in these pills, doc?’: Modern Chemical Insights into 19th Century Alternative Medicines
ECU doctoral candidate, Elizabeth LaFave, will speak about the research that she and undergraduate students learning in her chemistry lab have conducted for the past few years. LaFave and her team studied herbal “remedies” from ECU’s Country Doctor Museum within homeopathic kits and vials, dating from the 1840s to the early 1900s.
This presentation will describe how the research was conducted, including using mass spectrometry and spectroscopic techniques to identify the actual components in these remedies. The team completed the chemical research in tandem with historical research, studying historical materials such as medical advertisements and other information, to more fully develop a picture of how the chemical analyses could fit into the atmosphere of debate between traditional allopathic medicines and alternative homeopathic treatments during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Presented by Elizabeth LaFave, PhD Candidate in the Department of Chemistry at ECU
March 22, 2023
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If This Sterilizer Could Talk: Public Health, Milk and Museum Artifacts
Steam power ran the engines of the Industrial Revolution, but in the latter part of the nineteenth century, steam was harnessed in a different transformation. Milk pasteurized using steam sterilizers was one of the first ways that the germ theory revolution reached average Americans’ homes. One such steam sterilizer is in the Country Doctor Museum, which is part of Laupus Health Sciences Library’s history collections. Sterilizing milk also generated a public health controversy: at what point in the process from cow to table should milk be made safe to drink?
In this presentation, historian Tegan Kehoe will explore the history behind this question, drawing from the chapter featuring the museum’s steam sterilizer in her new book Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures. The book looks at the history of health and medicine through the lens of artifacts in museums and libraries across the country. The presentation will illuminate the important role that milk played in late nineteenth-century debates about safe food and child health, and include other examples of artifacts related to public health controversies of the past.
Presented by Tegan Kehoe, MA, Exhibit and Education Specialist at the Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation
January 23, 2023
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Fall 2022
A Favorite Pastime: Disease and Disinformation in the Cold War
Disinformation and political warfare were key components of the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, and a number of the most notorious of these campaigns centered around allegations involving disease outbreaks and claims of biological warfare. From the Korean War to the emergence of AIDS, real and alleged biomedical activities were a key aspect of the Cold War propaganda duel. The legacy of such medically-oriented disinformation can still be felt in the spread of falsehoods regarding COVID-19 and alleged “bioweapons labs” in Ukraine.
Presented by David Durant, MLS, MA, Associate Professor/Federal Documents & Social Sciences Librarian, Academic Library Services
November 16, 2022
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Presentation Slides and Bibliography
They Made a DIFFERENCE: The Old North State Medical Society and African American Hospitals during Segregation in North Carolina
Presented by Julius Q. Mallette, MD, Medical Director of the Behavioral Health Center at the Kinston Community Health Center, Graduate and Retiree of the Brody School of Medicine
October 24, 2022
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Investigating Morbidity and Mortality in the Ancient Near East
Dr. Megan A. Perry will be speaking about her research to date in the paleopathological analysis of metabolic disease found in human remains in Hisban, Jordan. Discussion will include findings of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, research methods, and implications for future research. She will also present photographs from her time researching in Petra, Jordan.
Presented by Megan A. Perry, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Anthropology
September 27, 2022
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Spring 2022
Penicillin, Propaganda, and the Death of the Pro-Station in World War 2
During WWI, syphilis (and venereal disease generally) became a major problem for the US army. As a result, the government trained medical officers not only to educate troops about venereal disease but to develop techniques to control the spread. One important measure was the venereal prophylactic station (also known as the pro station). Under threat of trial by court martial, soldiers having sex with prostitutes were required to immediately register at a pro station for the purpose of receiving a preventative treatment aimed at reducing the risk of transmission. In the pre-penicillin era the treatments for patients with documented syphilis could last for months. Soldiers receiving these treatments were considered unfit for service and were pulled from the ranks until cured, so preventing the infection was crucial. A great deal of propaganda was designed and printed for the military to remind men of the importance of visiting the pro station after a night on the town. The aim of this presentation is to explore the emergence and disappearance of the pro station and the propaganda material associated with it, both of which were rendered irrelevant by the advent of penicillin.
Presented by John A. Papalas, III, MD, Dermatopathologist, Eastern Dermatology and Pathology
April 21, 2022
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My Memories of the Holocaust
Dr. Walter J. Pories is a professor of surgery, biochemistry and kinesiology with ECU’s Brody School of Medicine. He became the founding chair of ECU’s Department of Surgery in 1977 and was a pioneer in the development of bariatric surgery as the first to document that gastric bypass produces rapid, full, and durable remission of Type 2 diabetes. In 1955, he enlisted in the US Air Force and in the Army reserves where he served 24 years in active duty, retiring at the rank of colonel with a Legion of Merit and a Presidential Citation for the regiment under his command in the first Gulf War. A Holocaust survivor, he fled Germany with his family in 1939 at the age of 11 years old. He will offer his autobiographical reflections on his life in Germany and his early life in America.
Presented by Walter J. Pories, MD, Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Surgery at East Carolina University
April 4, 2022
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The Scientific Revolution in Management Efficiency and Its Effects on American Medical Practice in the Early Twentieth Century and Its Enduring Changes in Medicine
The management innovations of Frederick Winslow Taylor in the early twentieth century focused on practices to increase efficiency in factory settings. A number of individuals, among them Dr. Henry S. Plummer of the Mayo Clinic, were early adopters of these methods and applied them to group medical practice. Examples of these applications by Dr. Plummer and others in medicine will be discussed, and the influence of the efficiency doctrine to current medical practice will be emphasized.
Presented by William C. Wood, MD, Col. (USAFR) Ret., Cardiovascular Sciences (retired)
March 21, 2022
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Fall 2021
A Quality of Life Conversation: An Eastern Carolina Journey
Dr. Don Ensley, one of ECU’s first African American faculty in the health sciences, offers his autobiographical reflections on his journey from rural Belhaven to his career as a professor and chair of the Department of Community Health.
This presentation is a joint lecture sponsored by the Pitt County Historical Society and Laupus Library at East Carolina University.
September 28, 2021
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Spring 2020
Accident at Compound 19: Unraveling A Cold War Medical Mystery
In April 1979, an anthrax outbreak in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk claimed at least 68 lives. After news of the incident spread, the US government argued that it was the result of an accident at a biological warfare research facility. The Soviets claimed it was a result of local residents consuming infected meat. It would be over a decade before the truth of what happened in Sverdlovsk was established. Once it was, the revelations helped unearth one of the Cold War’s most terrifying secrets.
Presented by David Durant, MLS, MA, Assoc. Prof./Federal Documents & Social Sciences Librarian, Joyner Library
January 27, 2020
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Sverdlovsk Bibliography
Emma Dupree, Pitt County Herbalist
Alex Albright will provide an overview of the life and work of Emma Dupree, who was the subject of the 1979 ECU film “Little Medicine Thing: Emma Dupree Herbalist”. Born in 1897 along the Tar River, Dupree was known as “that little medicine thing” because of her understanding of herbs at an early age. As an elderly woman, she shared much of her knowledge of the medicinal properties of native plants with physicians and medical anthropologists. Dupree received the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society in 1984 and the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1992. She died just shy of her 100th birthday, in 1996.
Presented by Alex Albright, MFA, English (retired)
February 24, 2020
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Selected Herbals, Mainly from the Americas Handout
Fall 2019
Health and Health Care in Pitt County – 1946-2019: Why and How Race Matters
The presentation will integrate historical events with the experiences, perceptions, observations, and reflections of one Pitt County native about health, health care, and race in this part of North Carolina. Emphasis will be placed on the obligation of public institutions such as ECU and Vidant Health to engage with the community to address long-standing social, economic, and educational inequities.
Presented by Thomas Irons, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences
August 26, 2019
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Ink and Silver: Medicine, Photography, and the Printed Book, 1845-1900
Ink and Silver: Medicine, Photography, and the Printed Book, 1845-1900 will address the use of photography in 19th century printed medical books, from both technological and aesthetic viewpoints. Four central benchmarks will be examined: Alfred Donné’s Cours de microscopie (1844-45) which used daguerreotypes to create etched printing plates; the pioneering psychiatrist Hugh Diamond, who not only photographed his patients but arranged for lithographs of their physiognomies to be printed alongside his articles on their diagnosis and treatment as early as 1850; the work of the pioneering neurologist Guillaume Duchenne du Boulogne, who illustrated his books with hundreds of tipped-in albumen prints; and the Army Surgeon-General’s Library (fore-runner of the National Library of Medicine), whose profusely illustrated medical history of the Civil War pushed the existing book arts to their limits. Illustration sources include the NLM’s History of Medicine Division, as well as other institutions such as the Royal College of Physicians.
Presented by Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD, Section Head, Rare Books & Early Manuscripts. History of Medicine Division, United States National Library of Medicine
September 24, 2019
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Eastern North Carolina and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic
As the Great War came to an end in the fall of 1918, a lethal disease spread across the globe. By the time the epidemic concluded in March 1919, more people died from the “Spanish” Influenza than died in the war, including an estimated 13,000 North Carolinians. This lecture will explore the deadly influenza virus strain and its rampage throughout the eastern counties of North Carolina. The impact on eastern North Carolina society, medical care, and public health will also be explored by examining primary sources from the period.
Presented by Layne Carpenter, MA, Archivist, Laupus Library
October 28, 2019
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Coca, Cacao, and Chinchona: Medical Marvels and Curiosities from the Iberian New World
When Columbus “bumped” into the lands of the New World, he hoped to find spices and gold. What he found instead in these lands he never understood were “new” were plants and animals unknown in the Old World that would provide an unlimited cornucopia of foods and medicines far more valuable than gold or the spices of Asia. Coca, cacao, and chinchona are just three of these marvels from the New World that have had religious, medicinal, and food value for Native Americans and beyond. This presentation will explore the history of these and other marvelous and curious plants and animals from the New World.
Presented by Angela Thompson, PhD, History (retired)
November 11, 2019
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Glossary and Bibliography
Chocolate con Chile Brownies recipe
Spring 2019
A Dark Chapter in Military Medicine: Nazi Physicians & Holocaust Medicine
This presentation explored how medical practitioners, medical ideology, and medical language were used throughout the Holocaust of WWII. We explored how physicians came to be involved with the National Socialist Party, due to its positioning as a form of ‘applied biology,’ as well as the establishment of the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Ärztebund (National Socialist Physicians League). We briefly explored the better-known history of Holocaust medicine, exploring physician involvement in forced sterilization, institutionalized killing (Child Euthanasia, T4 Program, Wild Euthanasia, Operation 14f13, The Final Solution), and medical experimentation.
Sheena M. Eagan, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies
January 28, 2019
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Jonathan Letterman: Father of Battlefield Medicine
Chris Grimes
February 11, 2019
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A History of Public Health Nursing in North Carolina
This presentation will highlight the stories of some of the first public health nurses in North Carolina around the turn of the 20th century. This was a significant time when nursing practice shifted from the bedside to the community across the country, and NC nurses began working in schools, industries, neighborhoods and churches. You will hear the stories of innovation and collaboration that marked the growth of a much needed public health nursing specialty in North Carolina.
LaShanda Brown, Ph.D., GNP, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, NC A & T State University
February 25, 2019
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Pierre Fauchard: The Father of Modern Dentistry
Pierre Fauchard (1678 – March 22, 1761) was a French oral surgeon, credited as being the “father of modern dentistry.” He is widely known for writing the first complete scientific description of dentistry, Le Chirurgien Dentiste (“The Surgeon Dentist”), published in 1728. The book transformed the discipline of dentistry for many years and placed the practice of dentistry on a scientific footing.
Waldemar de Rijk, Dept. of Physics; School of Dental Medicine (retired)
March 25, 2019
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The Transformations of Autism
Historians have generally described autism as a syndrome that was “discovered” in 1943, remained a rare categorical diagnosis through the 1970s, and then was expanded into a “spectrum” in the 1980s. This talk will argue instead that the meaning and boundaries of autism have been contested from the beginning. It will explore how debates over autism intertwined with those over schizophrenia and intellectual disability, and how race, class, and education played into the diagnosis in complex ways that would make the diagnosis more visible in some populations than others.
Jeffrey P. Baker, MD, PhD; Professor of Pediatrics and History; Director, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine; Duke University School of Medicine
April 9, 2019
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Determining the Appropriateness of Statistical Methods in Research
William Irish, PhD MSc, Research Professor & Vice Chair for Research
April 24, 2019
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Fall 2018
The Health Principles Practiced at John Harvey Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitarium
Many people associate his name with the cornflakes he developed. But John Harvey Kellogg was much more than a cereal maker. He crammed the accomplishments of many people into one lifetime. He was a physician, surgeon, dietitian, inventor, educator, administrator, religious leader, public speaker, and author of books, articles, and tracts that profoundly changed personal habits of many Americans and our understanding of preventive medicine, health, treatments of diseases, hygiene, sex education, and diet. In fact, John Harvey Kellogg still influences the health and dietary habits of many all around the world through the many products, such as breakfast cereal and peanut butter, which he developed.
Roman Pawlak, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition Science, College of Allied Health Sciences
August 28, 2018
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Paleopathology: Rewriting the History of Plagues and Diseases with Modern Molecular DNA Methods
Molecular biology has been used as a tool of paleopathology over the last few decades, as DNA can be recovered from human remains that are hundreds of years old. Since techniques such as PCR are highly sensitive to contamination, meticulous laboratory set-ups and protocols are necessary to ensure that false positive results from other materials in the laboratory do not occur.
For example, the long-held assumption that bubonic plague was the cause of the Justinian plague and the Black Death has been strongly supported by finding Yersinia pestis DNA in mass graves, whereas another proposed cause, anthrax, was not found.
Richard J. Baltaro, MD, PhD, Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
September 24, 2018
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Entering a “White” Profession: Black Physicians in the New South
Following the Civil War, opportunities for former slaves to enter law, medicine, teaching and other professions increased greatly. Several medical schools graduated a number of African-American physicians in the late 19th century. These newly minted physicians then faced the problem of opening viable medical practices among people, white and black, who had never seen black physicians before. This illustrated talk describes the reactions of black patients, white patients, and white physicians to the emergence of black physicians in their communities.
Todd Savitt, PhD, Professor, Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies, Brody School of Medicine
Monday, October 22, 2018 at 4:30pm
Not recorded
Mariners’ Maladies: Examining Medical Equipage from the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck
Shipboard medicine during the seventeenth and early eighteenth century’s Golden Age of Piracy was challenging. Chronic and periodic illnesses, wounds, amputations, toothaches, burns, and other maladies of the crew, captain, and enslaved cargo had to be treated. This presentation will look at evidence of the tools used to heal the sick and wounded recovered from shipwreck 31CR314, identified as Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge (formerly La Concorde, a French slaver).
Presented by Dr. Linda F. Carnes-McNaughton, RPA; Archaeologist, Fort Bragg Cultural Resources Management Program
Co-Author, Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize (UNC Press 2018)
November 12, 2018
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Spring 2018
Edgar R. “Painless” Parker: Vaudevillian Dentist
Edgar R. “Painless” Parker will be discussed as a person, with a flamboyant style, who struggled with organized dentistry (due to his methods, claims, and advertising), and used entrepreneurial and astute business practices. Although he consistently fought “the establishment”, who felt his very existence was beneath the dignity of the profession, Parker’s business techniques are widely practiced today.
Bobby M. Collins, DDS, MS, Clinical Associate Professor of Dental Medicine
January 22, 2018
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Clara Louise Maass: Servant Nurse Leader Undaunted
Dr. Clara Louise Maass (1876 – 1901) was passionate about nursing American soldiers during the Spanish-American War of 1898, especially those suffering from yellow fever. Even in her early twenties, Clara Maass was unaccepting of the current thought regarding the etiology of this mysterious, dreaded disease. She challenged the process by betting her life upon the theory that immunity to yellow fever could be produced by inoculation under controlled circumstances.
Carol E. Winters, PhD, RN, CNE, Professor and Director, MSN, Nursing Education Concentration
February 26, 2018
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Death and Diversity in Civil War Medicine
During the American Civil War deaths from disease did not occur at the same rates across national and racial groups. Confederates suffered from 167 disease deaths/thousand men; disease mortality among black Union troops was 143/1000; white Union troops, on the other hand, reported only 43 disease deaths per 1000 men. This talk explores the ways in which social determinants of health, particularly nutritious food and nursing care, explain much of this differential mortality.
Margaret Humphreys, MD, PhD, Josiah Charles Trent Professor in the History of Medicine, Duke University
March 26, 2018
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The History of PTSD: How Cultural Narratives Affect the Patient Experience
This presentation will explore and examine the cultural narratives used to explain war-related trauma disorders such as shell-shock and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We will examine how modern western medicine’s inability to understand the mind-body connection has led to problematic and stigmatizing explanatory narratives. Focusing on PTSD, we will explore how this cultural narrative blamed and stigmatized victims of trauma. From the veteran’s perspective, this has meant being injured twice—once in battle, and again by their own community through isolation and stigmatization. Analysis will show that cultural mores surrounding gendered social roles have long shaped our understanding of trauma-related psychological disorders on the battlefield. Beyond that, discussion will make clear that the way victims were discussed in professional literature, and viewed within the social framework confounded harm and paved the way for the future stigmatization of these groups.
Presented by Sheena M. Eagan, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies
April 9, 2018
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Fall 2017
Watchful Care: The History of Nurse Anesthesia
Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care in the United States since at least the American Civil War. They are the oldest nurse specialty group in the United States and the primary anesthesia providers to the U.S. military.
Maura S McAuliffe, CRNA, PhD, FAAN, Professor and Program Director, College of Nursing
September 25, 2017
Not Recorded
The History of Diving Medicine
For thousands of years man has attempted to explore the underwater world, at first for food, later for salvage and military purposes. All done with breath-holding. In the 19th century the introduction of hyperbaric environments and equipment to breathe compressed gas created a new challenge to human physiology. We will explore the events and scientists surrounding the investigation of these physiologic effects of hyperbarics and the development of Dive Medicine into the 21st century.
Peter B. Wagner, DO, Clinical Professor, East Carolina Heart Institute
October 23, 2017
Not Recorded
Vaccines: Successes and Tribulations
Dr. John M. Lehman, Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine will discuss development of vaccines to protect against infectious diseases. The history is replete with successes and some failures, which have provided evidence supporting continued research and development of new vaccines. This presentation describes the utilization of human cells in the development of human vaccines.
Dr. John M. Lehman, Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
November 13, 2017
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Spring 2017
Pain: A Political History
Keith Wailoo, PhD, Townsend Martin Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University
Brewster History Lecture, ECU Voyages of Discovery
Medical History Interest Group was one of the co-sponsors
January 31, 2017
Race, Class, Authorship, and “Discovery” of Sickle Cell Anemia in 1910-1911
Dr. Todd Savitt, Professor of Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies, tells the very divergent stories of the first two sickle-cell disease (SCD) patients in the medical literature (1910-1911) and their physicians against the backdrop of a racially divided America and of a highly competitive scientific community. He shows how race and class affected the discovery of SCD and how credit for the discovery was apportioned. Prof. Savitt will also tell about his own “adventures” in tracking down the identities and backgrounds of these first two SCD patients.
Dr. Todd Savitt, Professor of Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies
February 27, 2017
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Call the (Eastern North Carolina) Midwife: The Remarkable Career of Lovie Beard Shelton (1925-2013)
From 1950 to 2001, nurse-midwife Lovie Beard Shelton delivered some 4000 babies in eastern North Carolina homes. The first public health nurse in Pamlico County and the first nurse-midwife to practice in North Carolina, Shelton, who was white, navigated between the white medical and public health establishment and the African American communities she primarily served. Her career serves as a window into the rich and complicated history of birth and midwifery in North Carolina in the second half of the 20th century.
Lisa Yarger, MA Folklore, Freelance Writer and Bookshop Owner, Munich, Germany
March 27, 2017
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In The Beginning… The Tar Heel State and Public Health
Public health historian E. Daniel Shingleton provides an overview of the formative years of public health services in North Carolina. He shows how Drs. Thomas F. Wood and Solomon S. Satchwell played critical roles in the formation of the North Carolina State Board of Health in 1877. The related importance of the North Carolina Medical Society will also be outlined.
Dan Shingleton, MSW, ECU Social Work (retired)
April 10, 2017
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Fall 2016
Bioterror: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Bioterror has its origins in the biological warfare of ancient history. Diseased animals either as part of a herd or launched over castle walls served to sicken a populace. Later, various human or animal wastes, carcasses, and toxins were used to specifically decrement or decimate an enemy.
Bobby M. Collins, DDS, MS, SODM
John M. Lehman, Ph.D., Brody School of Medicine
November 14, 2016
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Development of a Dental Appliance
The Expansion Arch, which Dr. Edward H. Angle created, was the first standardized, mass-produced orthodontic appliance ever marketed to the dental community. This lecture will provide a context in which this orthodontic appliance was created, marketed and utilized. It will also track the orthodontic appliance’s sales and use within the professional community over a decade (1899-1910). The lecture also follows the complex interplay of for-profit manufacturing companies, practitioners and patient care.
V. Wallace McCarlie, D.M.D., Ph.D., Clin. Assist. Prof. (clinical), SODM
October 24, 2016
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Paul Ehrlich: His Contributions to Medical Science and Therapy
John M. Lehman, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will discuss the contributions that Dr. Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) made to pathology, immunology, bacteriology and treatment. He is responsible for the naming and initiation of the concept of chemotherapy, developing the first “magic bullet” (Salvarsan, 606). In 1908 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology.
John M. Lehman, PhD., Prof., Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Brody School of Medicine
September 26, 2016
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Untruth in Advertising: A Nineteenth Century Patent Medicine Trade Card Collection
Melissa Nasea, History Collections Librarian and Assistant Professor at Laupus Library, will discuss “patent medicines” in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries: what they were, why they began to disappear with the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and how they differed from today’s medicines. She will share “trade cards” and some of the interesting images found in the Laupus Library print and digital collections.
Melissa Nasea, MSLS, MBA, AHIP, Assistant Professor, Laupus Library
August 29, 2016
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Spring 2016
Galen’s Zygoma: The Birth of Anatomical Terminology: A Confluence of Medicine, Language and History
Walter Sabiston, M.D.
April 11, 2016
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The Athenian Plague and Ancient Greek Medicine
Anthony Papalas, Ph.D., Professor, History (retired)
March 21, 2016
Not recorded, View Handout
Dentistry as Depicted by 17th Century Dutch Masters
Waldemar de Rijk, PhD, DDS, Clinical Assoc. Prof., School of Dental Medicine
February 29, 2016
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Fall 2015
Dr. Anton Chekhov and the Syphilitics of Sakhalin Island
John Papalas, MD
November 9, 2016
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The History of Amputation: Dr. Robert Liston – Anatomy, Dexterity, and Amputations
Carolyn Horne, PhD, MSN, RN-BC, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
October 26, 2015
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TB or Not TB: The Re-emerging White Plague Through History
John M. Lehman, PhD, Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, BSOM
Bobby M. Collins, DDS, MS, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Dental Medicine
September 28, 2015
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Disease and Doctoring in Montana at the Dawn of Modern Medicine – 1880-1915
Todd Savitt, PhD, Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies, BSOM
August 31, 2015
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Spring 2015
The History and Current State of Publication Bias & Inadequate Trial Transparency in the Health Sciences
Martin Mayer, MS, PA-C, Clinical Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Studies, College of Allied Health Sciences
January 26, 2015
Not Recorded; View Bibliography
Yellow Fever in Texas
Daniel S. Goldberg, J.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies, Brody School of Medicine
February 23, 2015
John Henry “Doc” Holliday, Frontier Dentist
Bobby M. Collins, DDS, MS, Clinical Assoc. Prof., School of Dental Medicine
March 23, 2015
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The Balmis Expedition and Smallpox Vaccination in the Spanish Empire
Angela Thompson, Ph.D., Assist. Prof., Dept. of History
April 13, 2015
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Spring 2014
The 19th Century Doctor
Todd Savitt, PhD, Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies
January 27, 2014
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Adult Sibling Relationships: A Historical and Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
Ave’ Maria Renard, PsyD, MSN Clinical Psychologist
February 24, 2014
Not Recorded
Dr. Philippe Ricord: The History of Syphilis and the Art of Human Inoculations
John Papalas, MD
March 24, 2014
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Nikola Tesla: How the Vision for Low Cost Energy Led to Fluorescent Lights, Radio and Medical Wonders
Joseph Chalovich, PhD, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
April 7, 2014
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Fall 2014
The Battle of Mogadishu 1993: Operational and Medical Aspects
William C. Wood, MD, Col. (USAFR) Ret.
September 8, 2014
The Philadelphia Chromosome (Ph): A Story of Scientific/Medical Discovery
John M. Lehman, PhD, Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
September 29, 2014
Thomas Fanning Wood, MD, and the Public Health Movement in North Carolina
David E. Rice, Health Director, New Hanover County Health Department, Wilmington, NC and E. Daniel Shingleton, ECU Social Work (retired)
October 27, 2014
IPE (Interprofessional Education) in Health Sciences: Who’s in the Game? Current and Past Players
Annette Greer, PhD, MSN, RN, Associate Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies
November 10, 2014
Spring 2013
Plummer of the Mayo Clinic: A Reason for Its Success
W. Chadwick Wood, M.D., Col. USAFR (Ret.), Clinical Prof., East Carolina Heart Institute
January 28, 2013
Not Recorded
Galen’s Place in the History of Medicine
Anthony Papalas, Ph.D., Professor, History (retired)
February 25, 2013
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Yellow Jack Arrives in Wilmington: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1862
David E. Rice, MPH, MA, Health Director at New Hanover County Health Dept., Wilmington, N.C.
E. Daniel Shingleton, MSW, ECU Social Work (ret.)
Eric Kozen, Superintendent, Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, N.C.
March 25, 2013
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Max Brödel – Medical Illustrator: Leipzig to Baltimore, Making Early Surgeons Famous
W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr., MD, FACS, FRCS (Eng), Senior Assoc. VC, Director, East Carolina Heart Institute
April 10, 2013
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Fall 2013
Edward Hartley Angle, MD, DDS: Disassociation from Dental Education and Dental Medicine
Van Wallace Mc Carlie, Jr., MA, DMD, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor, School of Dental Medicine, East Carolina University
August 26, 2013
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The Swedish Swine-flu Pandemic, Mass-Vaccination and the Power of Narratives
Britta Lundgren, PhD, Professor of Ethnology and former Dean of Faculty of Arts, Umeå University, Sweden
September 23, 2013
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Medical Practice on a Greek Island in Ancient Times and Today
John Tripoulas, MD, Ikaria Island, Greece
October 23, 2013
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Truth, Objectivity, and Doubt in Late 19th Century U.S. Neurological Discourse Regarding Phantom Limb Pain
Daniel Goldberg, JD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies at East Carolina University
November 18, 2013
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Spring 2012
Franklinization: Early Therapeutic Use of Static Electricity
Joseph M. Chalovich, PhD, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
January 23, 2012
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John Hunter and the Philosophy of Dentistry
Joseph Bord, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Laupus Library
February 27, 2012
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Women Surgeons of the 19th Century – Ahead of the Times
Danielle Saunders Walsh, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor, Surgery
March 26, 2012
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The Evolution of U.S. Health Care Delivery Policy
Robert Kulesher, PhD, Associate Professor, Health Services and Information Management
April 9, 2012
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Fall 2012
Sterilization and Juvenile Delinquency in North Carolina’s State Home for Girls (Samarcand Manor)
Karin L. Zipf, PhD, Associate Professor, History
August 27, 2012
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Scrofula Doctor and Musical Genius: How One Woman Healed Body and Soul in the Post-Civil War South
David Hursh, MM, MLS, Associate Professor & Head of ECU Music Library
September 24, 2012
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Hunter Holmes McGuire: Much More than Stonewall Jackson’s Surgeon
Carl E. Haisch, M.D., Professor, Director of Surgical Education, and Associate Dean
October 22, 2012
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Somaticism, Pain, and Malingering Among N.C. Civil War Veterans: Analysis of Two Early Pension Programs
Daniel S. Goldberg, JD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies at the Brody School of Medicine
November 12, 2012
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Spring 2011
Histopathology in the Nineteenth Century: Virchow to Frozen Sections
Donald R. Hoffman, Ph.D., Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
January 24, 2011
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Suffering and Death among Early American Roentgenologists: The Power of Remotely Anatomizing the Human Body
Daniel S. Goldberg, J.D., Ph.D., Assist. Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies, BSOM
February 28, 2011
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A History of the National Library of Medicine and its History of Medicine Division
Jeffrey S. Reznick, Ph.D., Deputy Chief, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine
March 14, 2011
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The History of the Anti-vaccination Movement and Perceptions of Vaccines
Andrea Kitta, PhD, Assistant Professor, English
March 28, 2011
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History of Osteopathy
Peter B. Wagner, D.O., Clinical Associate Professor, East Carolina Heart Institute
April 11, 2011
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Fall 2011
Civil War Medicine
David E. Long, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, History (U.S.), Harriot College
September 19, 2011
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Hookworm History and Soils in NC: Massive Infection and Intervention 1910-1915
Alice Anderson, PhD, Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Health Education and Promotion
September 26, 2011
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African American Health Care Providers in the Civil War
David Dennard, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of History; Director of the African and African American Studies Program
October 24, 2011
Not Recorded
A History of Twin Studies
Charles E. Boklage, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, East Carolina University
November 28, 2011
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Spring 2010
Only the Good Die Young: The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic
Carrie L. May, B.A. in History, 1st year Masters of Public Health Student
January 25, 2010
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Bringing the Hospital to the Patient: A Tangled History of Prehospital Medicine
Joshua Corsa, FP-C (Flight Paramedic-Certified), BS, M2 at BSOM
February 22, 2010
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In Defense of the Nation: Syphilis, North Carolina’s “Girl Problem” and WWI
Karin Zipf, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of History
March 22, 2010
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A History of Dropsy: From Bloodletting to Southey’s Tubes
Hassan Alhosaini, MD, Senior Fellow in Cardiovascular Medicine, East Carolina Heart Institute
April 19, 2010
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Fall 2010
Poliomyelitis: History, Conquest and Cost Analysis
John M. Lehman, PhD, Assoc. VC for Research, Health Sciences; Assoc. Dean for Research & Graduate Studies, BSOM; Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
August 30, 2010
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Women and Medicine in 19th Century America
Todd Savitt, PhD, Professor, Bioethics & Interdisciplinary Studies
September 27, 2010
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Killing the Medical Self-help Tradition among African Americans: The Case of Lay Midwifery in North Carolina, 1912-1983
Holly Mathews, PhD, Professor, Department of Anthropology
October 25, 2010
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The Resurfacing Debate: Historical Perspectives of Multiple Entry-Levels to RN Practice
April D. Matthias, MSN, RN, CNE, PhD Candidate, College of Nursing
November 29, 2010
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Spring 2009
Dr. James Lind and the Story of Scurvy
Charles M. Phillips, MD, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Dermatology
January 26, 2009
Not Recorded
Who Was the First Physician?
R. Lee West, M.D., Professor, Pathology
February 23, 2009
Not Recorded
History of Battlefield Medicine: Compassion in the Midst of Carnage
David E. Long, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, History (U.S.), Harriot College
March 30, 3009
Not Recorded
The ‘Doctor-Nurse Game’ in the 1840’s: To Play or Not to Play?
Martha Libster, PhD, RN, CNS, Associate Professor, College of Nursing
April 20, 2009
Not Recorded
Fall 2009
Paul De Kruif: The Microbe Hunter and Author
John M. Lehman, PhD, Assoc. VC for Research, Health Sciences; Assoc. Dean for Research & Graduate Studies, BSOM; Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
August 31, 2009
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Highlights in the History of Medical Marijuana
Jeffrey Pierce, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
September 14, 2009
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Smallpox in the Spanish New World
Angela Tucker Thompson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dept. of History
October 26, 2009
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“Leaving No Soldier Behind”: Advances and Heroism in Military Medicine
William C. Wood, MD, Col. USAFR (Ret.), Clinical Associate Professor, Cardiovascular Sciences
November 30, 2009
Not Recorded
Spring 2008
William Ruschenberger: 19th-Century Naval Surgeon and Cultural Adventurer
Angela Tucker Thompson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dept. of History
February 25, 2008
Not Recorded
Medicine as Practiced at Jamestown, 1607-14
Terry Bond, Historic Site Interpreter, Jamestown Settlement, VA
March 3, 2008
Not Recorded
The Evolution of American Hospitals
Robert R. Kulesher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Health Services and Information Management
March 24, 2008
Not Recorded
Allen Oldfather Whipple: The Father of Modern Pancreatic Surgery
Emmanuel E. Zervos, M.D., Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology
April 14, 2008
Not Recorded
Historically Important Microscopes: A Demonstration/Lecture
Donald R. Hoffman, Ph.D., Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
April 28, 2008
Not Recorded
Fall 2008
Voices and Visions: A History of Madness, Institutions, and Recovery
Sy Saeed, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Psychiatric Medicine
August 25, 2008
Not Recorded
Resurrection and Dissection: A Short History of Grave-Robbing
Todd L. Savitt, PhD, Professor, Medical Humanities
October 27, 2008
Not Recorded
Democedes of Croton and the State of Pre-Hippocratic Medicine in Ancient Greece
Anthony J. Papalas, PhD, Professor, History
November 3, 2008 Not Recorded
Theobald Smith: Microbe Hunter
John M. Lehman, PhD, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Health Sciences; Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
November 17, 2008
Not Recorded
Unpacking the Black Bag: Country Doctors and Narratives of Rural Health Care, 1920s-1970s
Sasha Mullally, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, University of Alberta
November 21, 2008
Not Recorded
Spring 2007
Four Temperaments, Five Elements: Comparisons and Contrasts Between Eastern and Western Humoral Theory
Jeffrey Pierce, MD (Clinical Assistant Professor for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
January 22, 2007
Not Recorded
Herbal Diplomats: Nursing during the American Botanical Movement 1830-1860
Martha Libster, PhD, RN, CNS (Associate Professor, ECU School of Nursing)
February 26, 2007
Not Recorded
The History of Public Health in North Carolina: An Overview
E. Daniel Shingleton, MSW (ECU School of Social Work and Barton Weekend College Program)
March 26, 2007
Not Recorded
Get the Lead Out! A Brief and Highly Selective History of Lead Poisoning
Bruce Johnson, MD (Professor of Medicine & Vice Chair for Education; Director, Division of General Internal Medicine)
April 23, 2007
Not Recorded
How Gender Changed the History of Medicine
Regina Morantz-Sanchez, Ph.D (Professor of History, University of Michigan)
April 30, 2007
Lecture associated with “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians” traveling exhibition
Not Recorded
Fall 2007
Non-Physician Clinicians: History from 1600’s to North Carolina
Steve Cohen, MPAS, PA-C (Clinical Associate Professor, Physician Assistant Studies)
August 27, 2007
Not Recorded
Old Testament Skin Problems
Charles Phillips, M.D. (Associate Professor, Internal Medicine – Dermatology)
September 24, 2007
Not Recorded
Dying Young: Stories from the History of American Youth Suicide
Kathleen W. Jones, Ph.D. (Dept. of History at Virginia Tech; National Humanities Center Fellow for 2007-2008)
November 5, 2007
Not Recorded
Dr. Joseph Goldberger and Pellagra: His Life and Legacy
Paul Strausbauch, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
November 26, 2007
Not Recorded
Spring 2006
Abortion in the Old West: The Trials of Dr. Edwin S. Kellogg
Todd Savitt, PhD (Professor of Medical Humanities, Brody School of Medicine)
January 17, 2006
Not recorded
Eponyms of the Acute Abdomen
Ben Gersh (4th Year Student, Brody School of Medicine)
February 14, 2006
Not recorded
Watchful Vigilance: The Development of Critical Care Units 1950-1970
Julie Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN (Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania)
March 21, 2006
Not recorded
Early History of Radiation Therapy
Marc Randall, MD (Director, Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center)
April 18, 2006
Not recorded
Fall 2006
Using Primary Documents to Explore the Past: Health and Medicine in the Slave South
Todd Savitt, PhD (Professor, Medical Humanities)
August 28, 2006
Not recorded
Diabetes and the Discovery of Insulin: A Historical Review
Robert Tanenberg, MD (Professor, Internal Medicine)
September 25, 2006
Not recorded
How Laryngeal Cancer Changed the Course of History: The Unfortunate Story of Dr. Morell Mackenzie
Omur Cinar Elci, MD, PhD (Associate Professor, Division of Community Health and Preventive Medicine)
October 23, 2006
Not recorded
The Early History of Commercial Biotechnology
Sally Smith Hughes, Ph.D. (Historian of Science, Bancroft Library, University of California and 2006-2007 National Humanities Center Fellow)
November 9, 2006
Not recorded
Malaria in Italy ca. A.D. 450
Frank Romer, PhD. (Professor and Chair, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures)
November 27, 2006
Not recorded
Spring 2005
Medical Eponyms
Group Presentation
January 18, 2005
Not recorded
Intensely Human: The Health of Black Soldiers in the American Civil War
Margaret Humphreys, M.D., Ph.D.
Josiah Charles Trent, Associate Professor of Medical Humanities, Duke University
Burkhardt Fellow, National Humanities Center
February 8, 2005
Not recorded
The Historical Art of Robert Thom: Introducing History into a Pathology Course
Dr. Paul Strausbauch (Professor of Pathology)
February 15, 2005
Not recorded
From Bailey to Brody: Finding a Niche for the Country Doctor Museum
Anne Anderson (Country Doctor Museum)
March 15, 2005
Not recorded
John Locke: Physician, Philosopher – and Carolina Constitutionalist
David Shephard, M.B., FRCPC
April 19, 2005
Not recorded
Fall 2005
Some Historical Examples of Medical Self-Experimentation
Dr. Paul Strausbauch (Professor of Pathology)
August 16, 2005
Not recorded
The Deaths of Three American Presidents
Walter J. Pories, MD (Professor of Surgery)
September 20, 2005
Not recorded
Walking in Beauty, Living in Balance: A Navajo Philosophy of Healing
Lori A. Alvord, MD (Associate Dean of Student and Multicultural Affairs, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School)
September 22, 2005
Not recorded
Highlights and Lowlights in the History of Psychiatry
J. Frank James, MD (Professor of Psychiatry)
October 18, 2005
Not recorded
That Painful and Lingering Disorder: An 18th Century View of Cancer
Sharon Cotner (Curator, Pasteur & Galt Apothecary, Colonial Williamsburg)
October 28, 2005
Not recorded
The Mystery of “The Four Seasons”: A Unique 17th Century Flap Anatomy
Suzanne Porter (Curator, History of Medicine Collections, Medical Center Library, Duke University)
November 10, 2005
Not recorded
John Hunter: Father of Scientific Surgery
W. Randolph Chitwood, MD (Associate Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences)
December 14, 2005
Not recorded
Fall 2004
Educating Black Physicians in North Carolina: The Rise and Fall of Leonard Medical School 1882-1918
Todd Savitt, PhD (Professor of Medical Humanities)
October 4, 2004
Not recorded
Snow, Water, and Gas: Fundamental Advances in Epidemiology and Anesthesiology Made by John Snow
David Shephard, M.B., FRCPC
October 19, 2004
Not recorded
Three Women and a Dog: Alternative Medicine in the Ancient World
Carin Green, Ph.D.
November 5, 2004
Not recorded
Magic, Medicine, and the Principle of Apparent Casualty in Pliny’s Natural History
Dr. Peter Green, F.R.S.L., King Charles II Distinguished Visiting Professor in Classics and Ancient History
November 10, 2004
Not recorded
Medicine Plants of Native America
Stanley Graham Knick, Ph.D., Director of the Native American Resource Center, UNC Pembroke
November 18, 2004
Not recorded