Early modern societies in Latin America and Spain saw a convergence of traditional medical knowledge and the professionalization of medicine. The resulting differences in access to care endure today.
The health care world has changed a lot in 40 years, but Medicare hasn’t. Here are three areas for radical forms to the system that will achieve its aims of universal health care for all Australians.
Meg Leja, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Your doctor’s MD emerged from the Dark Ages, where practicing rational “human medicine” was seen as an expression of faith and maintaining one’s health a religious duty.
No matter how much we believe our knowledge and our technological capabilities have evolved, pandemics prove we are still at the mercy of the natural world.
Polio vaccines have been a massive public health victory in the US. But purely celebratory messaging overlooks the ongoing threat if vaccination rates fall.
The first transgender medical clinic opened in the US in the 1960s. But cisgender and intersex children began receiving similar treatments even earlier – often without their consent.
An astonishing discovery from the oldest known grave in Southeast Asia has revised medical history – the previous known amputation surgery was just 7,000 years ago.
The story behind the research can be as compelling as the results. Recording the effects of starvation, a group of Jewish doctors demonstrated their dedication to science – and their own humanity.
The idea that Europeans brought new diseases to the Americas and returned home with others has been widely accepted. But evidence is mounting that for syphilis this scenario is wrong.
Bill Sullivan, Indiana University School of Medicine
Albert Alexander was the first known person treated with penicillin. While his ultimately fatal case is well known in medical histories, the cause of his illness has been misattributed for decades.
Public health experts know that schools are likely sites for the spread of disease, and laws tying school attendance to vaccination go back to the 1800s.