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Dr. Howard Markel

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Dr. Howard Markel

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.”

Full Bio

Recent Stories

Health Dec 08

A childhood accident didn’t impair James Thurber’s comic vision

This minor genius of mirth lost his left eye at the age of 6.

Health Nov 07

How a mysterious ailment ended Eleanor Roosevelt’s life

None of her doctors knew what was causing her rare blood disorder. And given this was more than 50 years ago, the treatment options were rather limited.

Health Sep 09

The sexual assault case that shocked Hollywood almost a century ago

On Sept. 9, 1921, a young actress named Virginia Rappe died of a ruptured urinary bladder, days after a Labor Day party where she alleged that silent movie star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had assaulted her.

Health Aug 28

Why you can thank Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. for doctors washing their hands

In the mid-19th century, doctors in elite teaching hospitals would unknowingly spread deadly bacteria to expectant mothers. Here's how Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. helped change that.

Health Jul 21

How mental health struggles wrote Ernest Hemingway’s final chapter

On a Sunday morning, the famed writer awoke early in a discombobulated and distressed mood. The rest is literary history -- and part of a family’s legacy of pain.

Health Jul 13

Analysis: Why some schools stayed open during the 1918 flu pandemic

During the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, when an estimated 675,000 people died in the U.S. alone, the majority of public schools were closed for weeks to months on end. But three major cities kept their schools open amid valid questions and…

Health Jun 12

‘One day they simply weren’t there.’ How researchers reconstructed Anne Frank’s last months

Today would have been the 91st birthday of Anne Frank, the girl who left behind a tattered, hidden diary, now known as the gem-like book that's treasured by many millions. But the exact date of her death is unknown, and…

Health Apr 20

What history revealed about cities that socially distanced during a pandemic

In 2005, in response to the threat of H5N1, a flurry of pandemic preparedness planning began in Washington and across the nation that would set the groundwork for what’s happening now.

Health Apr 16

‘The Plague’ perfectly captures the risk in returning to normal

It's the most vexing phase of an epidemic -- once an illness peters out, healthy people begin to place it in the past.

Health Apr 04

Dorothea Dix’s tireless fight to end inhumane treatment for mental health patients

Today marks the 218th birthday of Dorothea Lynde Dix, one of the America’s most eminent reformers of the living conditions and treatment of the mentally ill.

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