Introduction

Author

Eric W. Boyle received his PhD in the history of science, technology, and medicine from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2007. He has taught undergraduate courses in multiple disciplines—American History, Public Health, and History of Medicine—at higher education institutions including the University of Maryland, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of California Santa Barbara, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. His teaching experiences include working with students with diverse background and learning styles and using online archives and exhibitions from the National Library of Medicine’s History of Medicine Division (HMD) as instructional materials. Dr. Boyle also has worked extensively with the HMD collections in curating “Visual Culture and Public Health Posters,” an online project featuring HIV/AIDS posters, and contributing to the Profiles in Science website in the library’s Digital Manuscripts Program. He is currently an archivist at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, a lecturer at the University of Maryland, and guest researcher in the Office of History at the National Institutes of Health. His book, Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth Century America, was published in January 2013. His second book project examines the history of alternative medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

Suggested Use

The Responding to AIDS class resource is designed for instructors at higher education institutions. Educators and students in disciplines including the History of Science and Medicine, U.S. History, Health Education, Cultural Studies, American Studies, Visual Arts, Sociology, Public Health, and others are invited to analyze and discuss the issues raised in the AIDS, Posters, and Stories of Public Health exhibition.

The class resource outlines how instructors can use the posters in AIDS, Posters, and Stories of Public Health: A People's History of a Pandemic alongside additional readings and discussion points to broaden and enrich students’ learning experiences. Responding to AIDS emphasizes the use of material available in electronic format and is intended to capitalize on resources provided by the National Library of Medicine.