Health Jun 16 How Dr. Heimlich got his maneuver 40 years ago In 1972, the New York Times reported that more than 3,000 people in the U.S. choked to death that year, making it the sixth most common cause of accidental death. Up until that time, the usual response upon discovering a…
Health May 22 Clara Barton’s crusade to bring the Red Cross to America May 21 marks the founding of the American Red Cross. Over its 133-year history, it has provided a wide menu of services to help the needy, disaster victims, military personnel and their families. The American Red Cross is also a…
Health Apr 10 ‘The Big Book’ that gave alcoholics hope in 12 steps turns 75 April 10, 1939, marks the publication date of “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism.” One of the best-selling books of all time (it has sold more than 30 million copies),…
Nation Mar 27 Typhoid Mary’s life sentence in quarantine North Brother Island is a 16.5-acre bump of land jutting out of the East River, 1,500 feet east of 140th Street in the South Bronx and 2,500 feet west of Riker’s Island. Once the site of New York City’s lazaretto,…
Health Feb 22 Happy birthday to Renato Dulbecco, cancer researcher extraordinaire Every elementary school student knows that Feb. 22 is George Washington’s birthday. Far fewer (if any) know that it is also the birthday of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Renato Dulbecco. While not the father of his country — he…
Health Jan 23 How Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor in the U.S. Most often remembered as the first American woman to receive an M.D. degree, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell worked tirelessly to secure equality for all members of the medical profession.
Health Dec 03 How to save a dying heart In a monthly column for PBS NewsHour, Dr. Howard Markel revisits moments that changed the course of modern health and medicine on their anniversaries, like the world's first human heart transplant on Dec. 3, 1967. In the photo above, Amy…
Health Nov 15 One man’s rise from ‘Dr. Unqualified’ to surgeon-in-chief In a monthly column for PBS NewsHour, Dr. Howard Markel revisits moments that changed the course of modern health and medicine on their anniversaries, like the confirmation of C. Everett Koop as surgeon general on Nov. 16, 1981. Photo…
Health Oct 16 The painful story behind modern anesthesia In a monthly column for PBS NewsHour, Dr. Howard Markel revisits moments that changed the course of modern medicine on their anniversaries, like the groundbreaking use of anesthesia on a surgical patient on Oct. 16, 1846. Photo by Image…
Health Sep 27 The real story behind penicillin The discovery of penicillin, one of the world’s first antibiotics, marks a true turning point in human history — when doctors finally had a tool that could completely cure their patients of deadly infectious diseases. Many school children can recite…