The Center for History Of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis stimulates scholarship on how progress in medicine, science, and engineering has taken place. The Center brings together the historical collections of the Bernard Becker Medical Library and the outstanding scholars, broad knowledge and continuing discovery at the School of Medicine.
Upcoming Events
- Nov. 8, 4:00 pm
65th Historia Medica: "Five Hundred Years of Plague in Ottoman History: Rethinking the Second Pandemic" - Jan. 17, 4:00 pm
66th Historia Medica: "Avoid Crowds as Much as Possible: Stories from the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic in St. Louis"
Selective Courses
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Major Epidemics in the History of Medicine
Points to be emphasized include the world-wide effects of such epidemics (bubonic plague), the discovery of vaccination and the ability to completely eradicate a major disease (small pox), the importance of insect vector diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, as well as the emergence into the developed world of new insect-carried diseases such as […] -
Introduction to the History of Medicine
This is a survey course on the history of medicine, concentrating on the contributions of some of the major figures in the historical development of medicine. The objectives will be to explain how medical science developed from antiquity to the 20th century. -
Medical Discovery and Progress from War
Human societal activies such as war have long histories. For medicine, these unplanned events have provided opportunities to improve care, treatment, and understanding basic aspects of medicine. The goal is to understand some aspects of these events as a perspective for current medicine and possible advances in the future.
