Tag Archives: World War II

When the FBI investigated William Carlos Williams

January 19, 2022

Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   William Carlos Williams. Passport photo with signature. 1921. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Via Wikimedia. “And my ‘medicine’ was the thing that gained me entrance to…[the] secret garden of the self…I was permitted by my medical badge to follow the poor, defeated body onto those gulfs and […]

Sister Kenny: the forgotten Nightingale

October 21, 2021

Anand Raja Devaraj Sushama Kerala, India   Elizabeth Kenny photographed in 1915. Unknown photographer. Item held by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Medical practices flourish and fall out of favor with time. Some become the norm only to turn redundant later; others prevail after a hard battle for acceptance. A campaign is even […]

Novice doctor at Guy’s Hospital in 1964

October 21, 2021

Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom   Fig 1. “Entrance into that most noble Public Charity and admirable Medical Establishment Guy’s Hospital” Founded 1721 by Thomas Guy it was intended for the incurables rejected by neighboring St. Thomas’s Hospital—the foreground scene shows this restriction had ceased. The building on the east (left), Boland House was […]

Doctor in exile

October 14, 2021

Constance Markey Chicago, Illinois, United States   Portrait of Carlo Levi. By Carl Van Vechten, photographer (created/published: 1947 June 4) (Wikipedia.org) In August of 1935, a handcuffed Dr. Carlo Levi, (1902-1975), author of Cristo si è fermato a Eboli, (Christ Stopped at Eboli) arrived in the miserable southern Italian village of Gagliano (actually, Aliano).1 He […]

The medical exploits of Roald Dahl

August 9, 2021

JMS Pearce Hull, England   Fig 1. Roald Dahl (1916-1990). Photo: © Roald Dahl Nominee Limited. Source Roald Dahl (1916-1990) (Fig 1) was born in Llandaff, Wales. He was named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who had reached the South Pole just four years earlier. Dahl is known as a popular author of ingenious, […]

Lina Shtern and the blood brain barrier

August 4, 2021

Irving Rosen Toronto, Ontario, Canada   Dr. Lina Shtern (1878-1968), an esteemed Russian physiologist did pioneering work with the blood brain barrier, and experienced distress as a result of her involvement in the WWII Russian war effort. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image No. SIA2009-3768. Future generations will remember our age for unbelievable electronic progress, but also […]

Atypical appendectomies

July 13, 2021

Jayant Radhakrishnan Nathaniel Koo Chicago, Illinois, United States   The Silversides Appendectomy was photographed by XO Roy Davenport, at the patient’s head. Thomas Moore is the dark-haired bearded man in the T-shirt. From the USS Flier Project. Appendectomies are routine procedures—until they are not. Three cases of auto-surgery and three other semi-pro appendectomies are worth […]

Milwaukee’s unlikely public health advocate

February 18, 2021

Lea Dacy Rochester, MN, United States   Upper left: The author’s mother, Rita Troiano, a year or so after the incident at the Sunflower Inn; Lower left: the author’s grandparents, Philip and Evelyn Troiano, ca. 1928, both from the author’s personal collection. Right: Helen Cromwell at the Sunflower Inn, Feral House Publishing, used with permission. […]

Doris Unland: surgical nurse extraordinaire

January 22, 2021

Frederic Grannis Duarte, California, United States   Doris Unland RN “scrubbed in” OR 10. Doris Unland was an extraordinary American surgical nurse who worked for forty-seven years at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. She may have participated in more major surgical operations than any other person—physician or nurse—in history. Born on December 19, 1910, […]

Macdonald Critchley

January 7, 2021

JMS Pearce East Yorks, England   Fig 1. Macdonald Critchley by Norman Hepple. Credit: National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH Arts. Source Macdonald Critchley was a neurologist of elegance and sophistication.1 He was pre-eminently a clinical investigator of disorders of higher mental functions, especially those relating to language. He was the author of many […]