Tag: University of Chicago
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Help from the horseshoe crab
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden The horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has not changed in more than 450 million years. It has been called “a living fossil.”1 It is, in fact, not a crab at all, but an arthropod, more closely related to arachnids such as spiders and scorpions. It is found on the eastern coast of North…
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Rejuvenation: “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” from The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States Ch’ io sono quell gran medicoDottore eanciclpedico,Chiamato Dulcamara,. . . Rigiovnir bramate? I’m noted as a scientist,Practitioner and specialist.I’m Doctor Dulcamara…Would you like your youth recaptured? L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love), music by Geatano Donizetti, Libretto by Felice Romano, Act I, scene IV1 “Rejuvenation” through medical science is the…
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A history of blood transfusion: A confluence of science—in peace, in war, and in the laboratory
Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts The rudimentary lights provided only dim illumination of the operative field. The three British army surgeons worked feverishly to save the life of the young soldier, Corporal Smith, who had a significant liver injury. He had already lost a liter of blood during transport from the front. As the surgeons continued…
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Frances Oldham Kelsey: A medical profile in courage
Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States Her name has disappeared into the vault of medical history and her dedication to scientific rigor and patient safety has been largely forgotten. Yet her silent but tangible legacy continues to this day. Born in Canada in 1914, Frances Oldham Kelsey received a BSc (1934) and MSc (1935) in…
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Madge Thurlow Macklin: Medical genetics
William LeemingCanada Most histories on the subject say that the name “medical genetics” was coined in 1932 by Madge Thurlow Macklin.1 But as it so happens, the term first appears in a book by the English polymath Lancelot Hogben, Genetic Principles in Medicine and Social Science: “Whatever views one may entertain concerning the urgency of…
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GI Joe: The life and career of Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner
James L. FranklinChicago, IL On September 21, 2009, Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner, University of Chicago Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, will celebrate his 100th birthday. In his centennial year, the American Gastroenterological Association Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition honored Dr. Kirsner with a celebratory dinner on May 29, 2009 as a part…
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Viral combat: Monica fights the flu
Clare RoseanUniversity of Chicago, Illinois, USA To anyone who has ever been sick in bed with the flu, Viral Combat: Monica Fights the Flu will offer a quirky visual account of why it is so utterly miserable to be sick. Created with the intention of educating students between grades 7–10, the story personifies viral particles,…