Apr 08 Remembering Ryan White, the teen who fought against the stigma of AIDS By Dr. Howard Markel Today we celebrate one of the great heroes in the war against AIDS: a brave young man named Ryan White. He was only 18 when he died of the disease on April 8, 1990. Continue reading
Mar 09 Celebrating Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first African-American woman physician By Dr. Howard Markel Today we celebrate the life of Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African-American woman physician in the United States. On this anniversary of her death, let us applaud her courage, perseverance and pioneering achievements. Her passion “to mitigate the afflictions of… Continue reading
Feb 06 Was Charles Dickens the first celebrity medical spokesman? By Dr. Howard Markel This Feb. 6, we celebrate Charles Dickens, the novelist and literary superstar of his day. He may well have been the first celebrity spokesman for a medical charity. The cause was London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and it first… Continue reading
Jan 14 Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a renowned medical missionary with a complicated history By Dr. Howard Markel In 2016, Albert Schweitzer may be a somewhat forgotten, or even a controversial, figure but a half a century or more ago, the mere mention of the name Schweitzer instantly conjured up images of selflessness, heroism and the very model… Continue reading
Dec 10 The story behind Alfred Nobel’s spirit of discovery By Dr. Howard Markel Every Dec. 10 for the past 114 years, the eyes of the world have turned to Stockholm, Sweden, where the Nobel Prizes are formally awarded to the brilliant men and women who have made exemplary inroads in Medicine or Physiology,… Continue reading
Nov 30 No, Oscar Wilde probably didn’t die of syphilis By Dr. Howard Markel The long-held theory was that Oscar Wilde succumbed to the ravages of end-stage syphilis. Fortunately, a London neurologist and two ear surgeons from South Africa have spent considerable time poring over Wilde’s medical and prison records to propose an entirely… Continue reading
Sep 22 Celebrating the life of Alice Hamilton, founding mother of occupational medicine By Dr. Howard Markel No individual was more instrumental in warning people about the health risks and potential dangers of the industrial workplace than Alice Hamilton. Continue reading
Aug 02 The ‘strange’ death of Warren G. Harding By Dr. Howard Markel At 7:20 p.m. on the evening of Aug. 2, 1923, President Warren G. Harding’s wife, Florence, was reading the “Saturday Evening Post” to him in the presidential suite of San Francisco’s Palace Hotel. The article in question was about Mr. Continue reading
Jul 19 Happy birthday to the woman who revolutionized endocrinology By Dr. Howard Markel Rosalyn S. Yalow was a giant of medicine. A Nobel laureate and medical physicist, Yalow co-discovered the radioimmunoassay, an exquisitely sensitive means of using “radioactive tracers” to measure hormones in the bloodstream. Continue reading
Jun 09 In honor of Cole Porter’s 124th birthday, his story of triumph over pain By Dr. Howard Markel When Cole Porter died of kidney failure at age 73 on Oct. 15, 1964, only his closest friends knew the extent of the physical and mental anguish he had endured for 27 years. Against all clinical odds, even if only… Continue reading