Adrianus Spigelius, the last great Paduan anatomist
In his time the Flemish physician Adrianne van den Spiegel (often referred to by the latinized name of Adrianus Spigelius) was the most renowned practicing clinician in the city of Padua. An accomplished anatomist, he was left with only meager eponymous pickings: the caudate (Spigelian) lobe of the liver and some more obscure structures around […]
Past Winners
Hektoen International honors the winners and runners up of the Hektoen Grand Prix essay contests 2018 Abigail Cline, Winner Tales from the crypt: the mosaic symbolism of Louis Pasteur’s tomb Jack Coulehan, Runner-Up The Education of Doctor Chekhov Alida Rol, Runner-Up “Mississippi Appendectomy” and other stories: when silence is complicity 2017 Anika Khan, Winner – Essay Locked-in […]
Jan Steen: quack doctors visit lovesick maidens
Like his contemporary Molière, the Dutchman Jan Steen makes fun of quack doctors, often shown in ridiculous costumes visiting young love-sick or pregnant women. In the Lovesick Maiden (Fig.1, Metropolitan Museum) the diagnosis is suggested by the painting of a Cupid above the door, the bed on the right, and the bed-warmer on the lower […]
The impact of technology on Healthcare
Singh Yadav Tamil Nadu, India Double doors swing open as paramedics rush a burn victim into the hospital’s Emergency Department. A nurse checks the patient’s pulse and vitals, while another takes a blood sample and deposits it to a nearby machine. A scanning device determines the wound size and depth and guides an attached […]
Summer Essay Contest
(Currently Closed) We invite you to participate in the Hektoen International Summer Essay Contest on the theme of Food and the Body. Please submit essays about food and drink as related to health and the body, using the lens of the humanities. Suggested topics may include, but are not limited to: the history of food, famine, […]
Immigrating to the in-between
Maia Evrona Massachusetts, USA Photo courtesy of Maia Evrona “But you have an accent. Where are you from originally?” I have learned to expect this question whenever I make a new acquaintance, whether the meeting occurs outside of the United States or in my home state of Massachusetts. There are few experiences more surreal than […]
Surrealist art and the resolution of absurd
Simon Wein Petach Tikvah, Israel Epigram “There must be a clear preoccupation with death—intimations of mortality . . . Tragic art, romantic art, etc., deals with the knowledge of death.” Mark Rothko, 1958, The Pratt Institute, on the function of art The Problem Fear of death permeates medical practice despite our best efforts […]
Past Grand Prix winners
2018 Winners To be announced in early 2018 2017 Winners Volume 9, Issue 3 Grand Prix: Locked-in syndrome: inside the cocoon Anika Khan Silver Prize: The King’s-Evil… Adam S. Komorowski & Sang Ik Song 2016 Winners Volume 8, Issue 3 Grand Prix: Outwitting ‘Typhoid Mary’ Lisa Mullenneaux Silver Prize: “Dust Off” and the Power of… Robert B. Robeson […]
Grand Prix Submission Guidelines
(Currently closed) We invite you to participate in the Seventh Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Competition. Two prizes will be awarded: $3000 for the winner and $800 for the runner up. Topics might include art, history, literature, education, etc. as they relate to medicine. Essays should be under 1600 words. The deadline is April 15, 2019 at […]
Original Water Colors, Gallery
University of Illinois, College of Medicine Cook County Hospital Masonic Hospital, Chicago.