Skip Navigation Bar

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

NLM logo

NLM Announces 2019 History of Medicine Lecture Series

December 6, 2018

Centerpiece to be “Viral Networks, Reconnected: A Digital Humanities/History of Medicine Research Forum”

The History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces the 2019 History of Medicine Lecture Series. All lectures are free, open to the public, and held in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium, building 38A located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Lectures are also live-streamed globally and archived by NIH VideoCasting, which is made possible through a generous gift to the NLM from the Michael E. DeBakey Medical Foundation.

The centerpiece of the 2019 series will be Viral Networks, Reconnected: A Digital Humanities/History of Medicine Research Forum, a special program reuniting three scholars who participated in the January 2018 Viral Networks: An Advanced Workshop in Digital Humanities and Medical History, which was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through a grant to Virginia Tech, and hosted by NLM.

Together at Viral Networks, Reconnected, Christopher J. Phillips of Carnegie Mellon University, A. R. Ruis of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Sarah Runcie of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette will share the progress of their research and their thoughts about the future of digital humanities and the history of medicine.

Viral Networks, Reconnected will be held on Thursday, April 4, 2019, from 2:00–4 p.m. in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium, Building 38A on the main campus of the National Institutes of Health. This special program is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Digital Humanities, as part of the partnership between NLM and NEH to collaborate on research, education, and career initiatives.

The 2019 NLM History of Medicine Lecture Series will also feature:

  • Oliver Gaycken, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of English and Core Faculty in the Film and Comparative Literature Programs of the University of Maryland, speaking on Fantastic Voyages Through the Historical Audio-Visual Collections at the National Library of Medicine, involving a series of case studies this extraordinary and world-renowned audio-visual collection. Dr. Gaycken’s lecture will take place on Thursday, February 28, 2019, beginning at 2pm ET in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium.

 

  • Andrew T. Simpson, PhD, 2017 NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellow in the History of Medicine, and Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Duquesne University, offering the 3rd Annual Michael E. DeBakey Lecture in the History of Medicine on Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and His Influence in the Changing Business of Healthcare and the Delivery of American Medicine. Dr. Simpson’s lecture will take place on Thursday, May 23, 2019, beginning at 2pm ET in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium.

 

  • Miriam Posner, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Information Studies Department of the University of California Los Angeles, offering the 11th Annual James H. Cassedy Lecture in the History of Medicine, on Mind-Body Problems: Lobotomy, Science, and the Digital Humanities. Dr. Posner’s lecture is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Digital Humanities. Dr. Posner’s lecture will take place on September 19, 2019, beginning at 2pm ET in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium.

 

  • Ted Brown, PhD, Professor of History and Medical Humanities, University of Rochester, offering a special lecture in honor and memory of Elizabeth Fee, PhD (1946–2018) on The World Health Organization’s Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978: What Was It Then, Where Is It Now? Dr. Brown’s lecture will take place on Thursday, October 17, 2019, beginning at 2pm ET in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium.

 

The NLM History of Medicine Lecture Series promotes awareness and use of NLM historical collections for research, education, and public service in biomedicine, the social sciences, and the humanities. The series also supports the commitment of the NLM to recognize the diversity of its collections—which span ten centuries, encompass a range of digital and physical formats, and originate from nearly every part of the globe—and to appreciate the individuals of various disciplines who value these collections and use them to advance their research, teaching, and learning.

Interviews with the speakers in the History of Medicine Lecture Series are published in Circulating Now, the blog of the NLM History of Medicine Division. Explore interviews with past lecturers on the blog and stay informed about the Lecture Series on Twitter at #NLMHistTalk.

Complete time and location details are available from the NLM History of Medicine Division.

Since its founding in 1836, the National Library of Medicine https://www.nlm.nih.gov has played a pivotal role in translating biomedical research into practice and is a leader in information innovation. NLM is the world's largest medical library, and millions of scientists, health professionals and the public around the world use NLM services every day.

###