Health Sep 13 How Walter Reed earned his status as a legend and hospital namesake Born on this day in 1851, Walter Reed proved the theory that mosquitoes transmitted yellow fever to human beings.
Health Aug 18 How Dr. Kellogg’s world-renowned health spa made him a wellness titan Just as his Michigan peers Henry Ford and Thomas Edison ruled over their vast empires of automobiles and electricity, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the industrial king of wellness, giving the nation a thorough cleansing from the grime and sickness…
Health Aug 08 How the massive, pioneering and embattled VA health system was born Over the past 96 years, the Veterans Administration -- now with over 1,700 care facilities serving more than 8.76 million veterans annually -- has experienced a roller-coaster ride of accomplishment, public opinion, resource allocation and criticism.
Health Jul 18 Presidents get sick and die. What happens next hasn’t always been clear The Constitution describes the legal transfer of presidential power to the vice president if the former resigns or dies while in office. But this guiding document does little to describe what happens if the president becomes seriously ill, or who…
Health Jun 15 Dr. Alzheimer and the patient who helped reveal a devastating disease This week marks the 153rd birthday of Alois Alzheimer, the German psychiatrist who is often credited for first describing the clinical and micro-anatomic features of a brain disease that steals the memories of millions of people each year.
Health May 12 How Florence Nightingale cleaned up ‘hell on earth’ hospitals and became an international hero On Florence Nightingale’s birthday and International Nurse’s Day, we celebrate Nightingale's multitude of accomplishments and those of the legion of nurses who followed in her path and continue to make a huge difference in caring for the ill.
Health Apr 11 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life was a study in destructive alcoholism This is a red-letter week for American literature because it marks the debut of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby in 1925. The book was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons and both Scott and his editor, the legendary Max…
Health Mar 30 Diagnosing Vincent Van Gogh Every schoolchild knows that Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear. The bloody event occurred on Dec. 23, 1888. But how much he sliced away (the entire ear, a chunk of his earlobe, or a mutilation in between) and why…
Arts Feb 23 How poet John Keats met his early end Before he turned to writing, the famous poet was an indifferent student. So he left school to become an apothecary-surgeon's apprentice.
Health Jan 25 The infectious disease that sprung Al Capone from Alcatraz after he was finally imprisoned for his life of crime, it was neither case law nor strong-armed tactics that set him free. It was, in fact, a tiny microbe called Treponema pallidum.