Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Author: Anne Jacobson

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    ART AND MEDICINE IN FLORENCE Published in October, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   .     BRONZINO AND THE WAGES OF SIN       Artists, statesmen, scholars, warriors, and even popes were affected by syphilis in those times. Take King Francis I of France (1494–1547). A polished man,…

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    RUSSIAN LITERATURE Published in October, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   .     THE EDUCATION OF DOCTOR CHEKHOV       Chekhov was neither an academic star, nor a social standout. There were, however, two areas in which he excelled. The first was his ability to listen to patients…

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    HONORING THE WORK OF THE RED CROSS Published on May, 2020 H E K T O R A M A     .   ALL BLOOD RUNS RED Clara Barton The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other disasters. Based on…

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    EPIDEMICS Published in March, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   . The recent coronavirus outbreak inevitably brings to mind the Spanish flu, the deadly influenza pandemic of a century ago. Here we republish seven articles about this devastating viral disease that spread to the four corners of the world, killing…

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    AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY Published in February, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   .     THE BLACK BARBERSHOP AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION       Barbershop health-prevention outreach has some inherent limitations. Barbers enjoy positions of respect and trust in the black community,7,11,15 but men can still be uncomfortable…

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    BITTER MEDICINE Medical remedies have a long history of unpleasantness, either because their nasty taste could not be masked or perhaps because of a traditional prejudice that a prescribed remedy would not work unless it was bitter, fizzed when dissolved in water, or was painful if given by injection. Classical examples are treacle, castor oil,…

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    DA VINCI AT 500 Published in December, 2019 H E K T O R A M A     .   The year 2019 celebrates the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest painters and polymaths of all time. Born near Florence in 1452, he moved to Milan at…

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    AMERICAN HEART PIONEERS Published in November, 2019 H E K T O R A M A     .     ALFRED BLALOCK & VIVIEN THOMAS     1930 Nashville. A twenty-year old African American man, honors student, and son of a carpenter had his eyes set on becoming a physician. This was not unfounded.…

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    LATIN AMERICA Published in September, 2019 H E K T O R A M A   . AFRICAN AMERICAN MEDICAL PIONEERS The first hospital in the Americas was built by Fray Nicolás de Ovando from 1503 to 1508 in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti). Named Hospital de San Nicolás de Bari (I), it was located in…

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    WOMEN IN MEDICINE Published in November, 2019 H E K T O R A M A     .     ALICE HAMILTON     The squalid streets of working-class Chicago in the late nineteenth century would have been something of a shock to the girl who grew up in a sheltered but educated household…