About
Dr. Howard Markel writes a monthly column for the PBS NewsHour, highlighting the anniversary of a momentous event that continues to shape modern medicine. He is the director of the Center for the History of Medicine and the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan.
He is the author or editor of 10 books, including “Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892,” “When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They Have Unleashed” and “An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine.”
Recent Stories
Health Jan 21
How the quest to preserve Lenin’s body helps the livingOver the last century, the Lenin preservation laboratory has created a long list of measures that help patients.
Health Dec 17
What caused Beethoven’s deafness?It is a query that has invited many diagnoses over the last 200 years.
Health Nov 22
John F. Kennedy kept these medical struggles privateLong before he died at age 46, President John F. Kennedy was a very sick man.
Health Oct 18
How Dracula draws on our biggest health fears"Dracula" abounds with fascinating references to medicine of the day.
Health Sep 14
Would McKinley have survived an assassin’s bullet if he had a different doctor?The man best suited to operate on the president was a legendary surgeon with extensive experience in treating abdominal wounds. He, however, was in Niagara Falls. McKinley died on Sept. 14, 1901.
Health Aug 19
How Groucho Marx fell prey to elder abuseThe turmoil of Groucho's last few years are all too familiar to adult children everywhere who are concerned with the welfare of their elderly parents and other relatives.
Health Jul 14
This genetic brain disorder turned Woody Guthrie’s life from songs to sufferingHuntington's disease -- which Guthrie inherited from his mother -- can lead to serious mood disorders, uncoordinated and involuntary body movements, balance problems, psychotic breaks, dementia and death.
Health Jun 21
The day Judy Garland’s star burned outA singer of remarkable power and range, Garland was one of the brightest stars. But she also suffered a lifetime of mental and physical health problems, fueled by addiction.
Arts May 17
How ‘Raisin in the Sun’ author Lorraine Hansberry defined what it meant to be ‘young, gifted and black’Before her early death of pancreatic cancer, the groundbreaking writer made history with "A Raisin in the Sun."…
Health Apr 23
Why Shakespeare’s own finale remains a closed bookIn "Hamlet," William Shakespeare contemplated the fact that once a person dies, no living person knows where that departed soul goes. That same uncertainty hovers around the final hours of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon.
