Event
Author Event--A Scientific Revolution: Ten Men and Women Who Reinvented American Medicine
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Business and Community Center
Ralph H. Hruban, MD, and Will Linder discuss their book tracing the evolution of medical care, highlighting important figures along the way.
Today we take it for granted that our doctors base the care they provide on science. But that hasn't always been the case. For the longest time, medicine in the United States was mired in folk wisdom, ancient notions of bodily humors, and plain quackery.
A Scientific Revolution: Ten Men and Women Who Reinvented American Medicine tells the story of the transformation of medicine from a rough-and-ready trade into a science based on research and evidence.
This story is told through the lives of pivotal figures who committed body and soul to advancing research, patient care, and medical education. These trailblazers include Elizabeth Garrett, who was denied a college education but later used hardball philanthropy to guarantee that women would be admitted to Johns Hopkins on equal terms with men. Among the stories is also Vivien Thomas, the grandson of a slave, who struggled against bigotry and segregation at Johns Hopkins, but nonetheless charted the path to congenital heart defect surgery.
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote that “Dr. Hruban and Mr. Linder’s portraits capture an inflection point in American medicine: the ambition and excitement of it, the sense of moment experience by those who were leading the revolution.”
Dr. Hruban is Professor of Pathology and Oncology and the Baxley Professor and Director of the Department of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He graduated from the medical school in 1985. He is also the Director of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins.
Will Linder is an Evanston-based writer and editor. He has had a long career in marketing and public relations. Will majored in history as an undergraduate and holds master’s degrees in business administration and liberal arts. He serves on the Johns Hopkins Humanities Advisory Council.