The current economic crisis has dramatically affected nearly all sectors of society at every level--locally, nationally, and internationally. The University of North Carolina is no exception, nor is the UNC Health Sciences Library. Updates on the university situation are available online.
To address the reduced budget for FY 2009-2010, which begins July 1, the Health Sciences Library is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of journal subscriptions, both electronic and print, in order to determine which titles might be dropped as a cost-savings measure. Journal subscriptions comprise approximately 95% of the library's acquisitions budget, so budget cuts significantly and directly impact the library's collections.
Users of the Health Sciences Library can learn more about the journal review process on the HSL web site. The site provides an FAQ, timeline, and cancellation criteria. Users are also invited to provide feedback online on journals that are candidates for cancellation. The library is committed to ensuring the development and maintenance of a strong research collection, and thus highly values input from potentially affected users.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
North Carolina Dedicates Eugenics Historical Marker
On June 22, 2009, the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program dedicated a new marker in Raleigh to commemorate the victims of the state's Eugenics Sterilization Program, which was authorized by the North Carolina legislature in 1929. The Eugenics Board was created in 1933 to review all sterilization requests, and between 1929 and 1974, over 7,600 individuals were sterilized. In 1972 the Eugenics Board became the Eugenics Commission before being abolished in 1977.Eugenics was a neologism created by Sir Francis Galton, who elaborated his theory of improving natural selection for humans in his 1883 work, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development. Sterilization laws were later adopted by over 30 states in the U.S., but were challenged in 1927 in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200. In upholding such laws, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes delivered the opinion of the Court, infamously asserting:
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
The General Assembly of North Carolina currently has two bills pending related to eugenics: House Bill 21 (Eugenics Program--Support and Education) and Senate Bill 179 (Sterilization Compensation). For further information on this legislation and the history of eugenics in North Carolina, please see an earlier Carolina Curator post.
In addition, Special Collections at UNC Health Sciences Library has digitized all volumes of the Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina [1934-1966], as well as North Carolina journals and documents in public health and other areas as part of an ongoing digital initiative.
Note: The images below are from the Historical Marker Database; full entries are available online for Indiana, the first state to pass eugenics legislation, and Virginia, the source of the landmark Buck v. Bell sterilization case.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Bullitt Club Lectures Now on iTunes
A new listening option is now available for the lecture series sponsored by the Bullitt History of Medicine Club: iTunes! The Carolina on iTunes U initiative hosts a variety of audio, video, and multimedia content from across the University of North Carolina, including health affairs, law, information and library science, journalism, and more.
Educational in nature, the digital content is free and ranges from lecture podcasts to tutorials to special events coverage. As the organizers state, "The initiative's primary goal is not only to provide a foundation for intelligent technology integration with measurable pedagogical impact and campus-wide benefit, but also to serve as a model for intra-campus partnerships and federated governance of a major technology-driven project."
Bullitt Club lectures for 2008-9 can be found by navigating to the School of Medicine section of Carolina on iTunes U or can be accessed directly. One can listen to individual lectures via streaming audio, download individual or all lectures in their entirety, or subscribe to podcasts, which will deliver new content directly as it becomes available. The iTunes software itself is free. At present there are nine lectures from the 2008-2009 lecture series on iTunes. These lectures are also available from the Bullitt Club web site. The new speaker schedule for 2009-2010 begins this September--stay tuned!
Educational in nature, the digital content is free and ranges from lecture podcasts to tutorials to special events coverage. As the organizers state, "The initiative's primary goal is not only to provide a foundation for intelligent technology integration with measurable pedagogical impact and campus-wide benefit, but also to serve as a model for intra-campus partnerships and federated governance of a major technology-driven project."
Bullitt Club lectures for 2008-9 can be found by navigating to the School of Medicine section of Carolina on iTunes U or can be accessed directly. One can listen to individual lectures via streaming audio, download individual or all lectures in their entirety, or subscribe to podcasts, which will deliver new content directly as it becomes available. The iTunes software itself is free. At present there are nine lectures from the 2008-2009 lecture series on iTunes. These lectures are also available from the Bullitt Club web site. The new speaker schedule for 2009-2010 begins this September--stay tuned!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
UNC Medical Student Wins Bean Student Research Award
For the third time in four years, a UNC medical student has won the William B. Bean Student Research Award from the American Osler Society. This year Chris Dibble, currently a third-year MD/PhD student, took the honors for his proposal entitled “Osler and Trudeau: The North American Campaign Against Tuberculosis.” Chris last year also won the inaugural McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine sponsored by the Bullitt History of Medicine Club for earlier research on Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau [1848-1915], and presented his essay at a Bullitt Club lecture in November 2008.
UNC is linked historically to Dr. Trudeau and his sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York through two well known individuals. Dr. Henry T. Clark [1917-2008], former UNC Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, was an intern and fellow at the Trudeau Sanitarium from 1940-1943. Dr. Clark’s papers are archived in the Southern Historical Collection in Wilson Library; a finding aid is available online. Dr. Louis Round Wilson [1876-1979], University Librarian and first director of the UNC School of Library Science, was a patient at the sanitarium in 1916, during which time he wrote letters to Edward Graham Kidder and maintained a “Tuberculosis Record Book.” These items and many others are part of the Wilson Papers housed, appropriately enough, in Wilson Library, for which Dr. Wilson is the namesake; a finding aid to the collection is available online.
Previous winners of the Bean Award are James Fraser in 2008 and Lee Hampton in 2006. James’ project title was “Molding an Independent Specialty: Plastic Surgery in Postwar America, 1919-1941” and Lee’s was “Albert Sabin and the Western Hemisphere Polio Eradication Campaign.” Both students gave earlier versions of their research at Bullitt Club lectures.
The Bean Award supports “research in the broad areas of medical history and medical humanities,” and carries a $1500 cash prize and $750 travel stipend for students to present their work at the annual meeting of the American Osler Society. As part of the application for the award, candidates must submit “a letter of support from a faculty sponsor who will assume responsibility for planning and guidance of the fellowship.” At UNC, this role has been played by Dr. H. Michael Jones, Clinical Professor of Pathology in the School of Medicine. Dr. Jones is an active member of the American Osler Society and the co-creator of Ask Osleriana, a searchable database available online.
UNC is linked historically to Dr. Trudeau and his sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York through two well known individuals. Dr. Henry T. Clark [1917-2008], former UNC Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, was an intern and fellow at the Trudeau Sanitarium from 1940-1943. Dr. Clark’s papers are archived in the Southern Historical Collection in Wilson Library; a finding aid is available online. Dr. Louis Round Wilson [1876-1979], University Librarian and first director of the UNC School of Library Science, was a patient at the sanitarium in 1916, during which time he wrote letters to Edward Graham Kidder and maintained a “Tuberculosis Record Book.” These items and many others are part of the Wilson Papers housed, appropriately enough, in Wilson Library, for which Dr. Wilson is the namesake; a finding aid to the collection is available online.
Previous winners of the Bean Award are James Fraser in 2008 and Lee Hampton in 2006. James’ project title was “Molding an Independent Specialty: Plastic Surgery in Postwar America, 1919-1941” and Lee’s was “Albert Sabin and the Western Hemisphere Polio Eradication Campaign.” Both students gave earlier versions of their research at Bullitt Club lectures.
The Bean Award supports “research in the broad areas of medical history and medical humanities,” and carries a $1500 cash prize and $750 travel stipend for students to present their work at the annual meeting of the American Osler Society. As part of the application for the award, candidates must submit “a letter of support from a faculty sponsor who will assume responsibility for planning and guidance of the fellowship.” At UNC, this role has been played by Dr. H. Michael Jones, Clinical Professor of Pathology in the School of Medicine. Dr. Jones is an active member of the American Osler Society and the co-creator of Ask Osleriana, a searchable database available online.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Grants Awarded to HSL for Digital Initiatives
Note: See June 21, 2010 blog post for announcement of second year NC ECHO award for $42,675.
The UNC Health Sciences Library has just been awarded $34,850 for the first year of a $94,050 three-year NC ECHO digitization grant project funded by the State Library of North Carolina through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Building on a pilot project that resulted in the digitization of historical North Carolina journals in public health, dentistry, and eugenics, the proposed North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection will contain over 800 volumes (approx. 300,000 pages) of core journals in medicine, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing from 1849 to 1977.
These materials document the development of health care and the health professions and are thus a significant part of the state’s cultural heritage and history. The digital library will be keyword searchable and browseable, and will provide consolidated online access to materials that are currently difficult for students, researchers, and the public to find and utilize in print. The digital library will also provide historical context for the digital resources and K-12 educational materials for selected content. Daniel Smith, Special Collections Librarian, is the principal investigator and project manager, and will coordinate each phase of the grant.
HSL and the University Library were also successful in obtaining other grant funding from the State Library. HSL's NC Health Info was awarded $54,057 for its consumer health portal, and the University Library received several awards:
:: "Ensuring Democracy Through Digital Access," a collaborative project between ECU's Joyner Library, the State Library of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, was awarded $124,693 for year one of a two-year project.
:: "Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina," a project of Wilson Library, received $74,553 for year one of a two-year project.
:: "Creating Online Access to Legacy Finding Aids," a project of Wilson Library, received $73,695 for year two of a three-year project.
:: "North Carolina Maps," a collaborative project of the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, the North Carolina State Archives, and the Outer Banks History Center, received $144,284 for year three of a three-year project.
The State Library's support will go far to develop and enhance UNC's digital collections for the use of researchers everywhere. A list of all grant awards for 2009-10 is available online. 185 projects were approved for a total of $4,717,109. These awards are made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant-making agency. Congratulations to everyone!
Note: The images below are from the Health Bulletin of the North Carolina State Board of Health.
The UNC Health Sciences Library has just been awarded $34,850 for the first year of a $94,050 three-year NC ECHO digitization grant project funded by the State Library of North Carolina through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Building on a pilot project that resulted in the digitization of historical North Carolina journals in public health, dentistry, and eugenics, the proposed North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection will contain over 800 volumes (approx. 300,000 pages) of core journals in medicine, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing from 1849 to 1977.
These materials document the development of health care and the health professions and are thus a significant part of the state’s cultural heritage and history. The digital library will be keyword searchable and browseable, and will provide consolidated online access to materials that are currently difficult for students, researchers, and the public to find and utilize in print. The digital library will also provide historical context for the digital resources and K-12 educational materials for selected content. Daniel Smith, Special Collections Librarian, is the principal investigator and project manager, and will coordinate each phase of the grant.
HSL and the University Library were also successful in obtaining other grant funding from the State Library. HSL's NC Health Info was awarded $54,057 for its consumer health portal, and the University Library received several awards:
:: "Ensuring Democracy Through Digital Access," a collaborative project between ECU's Joyner Library, the State Library of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, was awarded $124,693 for year one of a two-year project.
:: "Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina," a project of Wilson Library, received $74,553 for year one of a two-year project.
:: "Creating Online Access to Legacy Finding Aids," a project of Wilson Library, received $73,695 for year two of a three-year project.
:: "North Carolina Maps," a collaborative project of the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, the North Carolina State Archives, and the Outer Banks History Center, received $144,284 for year three of a three-year project.
The State Library's support will go far to develop and enhance UNC's digital collections for the use of researchers everywhere. A list of all grant awards for 2009-10 is available online. 185 projects were approved for a total of $4,717,109. These awards are made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant-making agency. Congratulations to everyone!
Note: The images below are from the Health Bulletin of the North Carolina State Board of Health.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Ranking Journals in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The editors of over 50 journals in the history of the science, technology, and medicine have published a joint editorial in their respective publications entitled, “Journals Under Threat: A Joint Response from History of Science, Technology and Medicine Editors,” in protest of the European Science Foundation’s (ESF) proposed European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH). The background for ERIH is described on the ESF web site as follows:
Anecdotally, it is widely assumed that much of Europe’s Humanities research is first class. However, it is not possible to easily gather or access empirical data to support this claim. Nor is it possible to compare Humanities excellence with other sciences. . . . Nevertheless, in the view of funding bodies such as the ERC, it is becoming increasingly important to identify and compare Humanities excellence at a supra-national European level.
ERIH intends to contribute to the creation of appropriate tools to achieve this and operates as a process led by academics for academics. At present, it is a reference index of the top journals in 15 areas of the Humanities, across the continent and beyond. It is intended that ERIH will be extended to include book-form publications and non-traditional formats, and will also form the backbone of a fully-fledged research information system for the Humanities. This would be the first step towards the development of a framework that will enable Humanities excellence to be assessed and verified.
The editors, however, assert that the ERIH “initiative is entirely defective in conception and execution.” The ESF has employed expert panels to rank humanities journals into three tiers (A, B, and C) as part of the initial lists for the index, and as noted in the joint editorial, journals in the History and Philosophy of Science were evaluated by a committee of four, which the editors state “cannot be considered representative.” They also cite the 2007 report by the British Academy, “Peer Review: The Challenges for the Humanities and Social Sciences,” that concludes that “the European Reference Index for the Humanities as presently conceived does not represent a reliable way in which metrics of peer-reviewed publications can be constructed.”
The editors make the following public demand:
Along with many others in our field, this journal has concluded that we want no part of this dangerous and misguided exercise. This joint Editorial is being published in journals across the fields of history of science and science studies as an expression of our collective dissent and our refusal to allow our field to be managed and appraised in this fashion. We have asked the compilers of the ERIH to remove our journals titles from their lists.
In response to the joint editorial, the ESF this month posted “The European Reference Index to the Humanities: A Reply to the Criticism,” an attempt at reconciliation which concludes:
ERIH is led by scholars for scholars and the feedback mechanism enables scholars to communicate their views directly to the Expert Panels, and to the Steering Committee. The feedback that is being submitted by individual scholars and scientists as well as by expert communities will have an important role in the updating of the “Initial Lists”. In full recognition of the early stage of the process, and the shortcomings of the present version of the ERIH, we would like to ask the editors of journals to reconsider their decision not to contribute to the process, and to let the project benefit from their critique and comments.
Among the journals participating in the joint editorial are the Bulletin of the History of Medicine (the organ of the American Association for the History of Medicine), Medical History, Social History of Medicine, Early Science and Medicine, and dozens of others.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Bullitt Club Lectures for 2008-9 Available Online
The Bullitt History of Medicine Club has completed its 2008-9 lecture series, and made the audio portion of each presentation available online as MP3s. The Bullitt Club sponsors a collaborative evening lecture series in conjunction with Duke University's Trent History of Medicine Society, with lectures alternating monthly between the two venues. The Bullitt Club also presents noon-time lectures in months when there is no evening lecture at UNC. The lineup for 2009-10 is currently being prepared, with the first lecture in the new academic year planned for September 2009.
Bullitt Club Speakers for 2008-9:
Dr. Sue Estroff, Professor of Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine
Blemished Bodies and Persons: An Historical Perspective on Stigma
:: April 14, 2009 [75 MB, 1:20:15]
Lisa Wiese, Second-Year Medical Student, UNC School of Medicine
Washington, D.C.: Understanding the Poverty-Health Link from an Historical Lens
:: April 6, 2009 [48 MB, 51:22]
Dr. Todd Savitt, Professor of Medical Humanities, East Carolina University
Entering a "White" Profession: Black Physicians in 19th- and 20th-Century America
:: February 10, 2009 [59 MB, 1:03:22]
Dr. Aldo Rustioni, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, UNC School of Medicine
The Neuron Doctrine of 1891 and the 1906 Nobel Award for Physiology or Medicine
:: January 21, 2009 [55 MB, 59:32]
Dr. Vanessa Northrington Gamble, University Professor of Medical Humanities, George Washington University
"Without Health and Long Life All Else Fails": A History of African-American Efforts to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Health and Health Care
:: December 9, 2008 [60 MB, 1:04:24]
Chris Dibble, MD/PhD Student, UNC School of Medicine
Winner of 2008 McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine
Edward Livingston Trudeau: The First American Physician-Scientist and the Fight against Tuberculosis
:: November 17, 2008 [49 MB, 52:38]
Dr. Elizabeth Fenn, Associate Professor of History, Duke University
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82
:: October 21, 2008 [61 MB, 1:05:18]
Wendy Moore, Freelance Journalist and Author (England)
The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery
:: September 23, 2008 [58 MB, 1:02:02]
Ansley Herring Wegner, Research Historian, North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Phantom Pain: North Carolina's Artificial Limbs Program for Confederate Amputees
:: September 17, 2008 [34 MB, 36:32]
Bullitt Club Speakers for 2008-9:
Dr. Sue Estroff, Professor of Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine
Blemished Bodies and Persons: An Historical Perspective on Stigma
:: April 14, 2009 [75 MB, 1:20:15]
Lisa Wiese, Second-Year Medical Student, UNC School of Medicine
Washington, D.C.: Understanding the Poverty-Health Link from an Historical Lens
:: April 6, 2009 [48 MB, 51:22]
Dr. Todd Savitt, Professor of Medical Humanities, East Carolina University
Entering a "White" Profession: Black Physicians in 19th- and 20th-Century America
:: February 10, 2009 [59 MB, 1:03:22]
Dr. Aldo Rustioni, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, UNC School of Medicine
The Neuron Doctrine of 1891 and the 1906 Nobel Award for Physiology or Medicine
:: January 21, 2009 [55 MB, 59:32]
Dr. Vanessa Northrington Gamble, University Professor of Medical Humanities, George Washington University
"Without Health and Long Life All Else Fails": A History of African-American Efforts to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Health and Health Care
:: December 9, 2008 [60 MB, 1:04:24]
Chris Dibble, MD/PhD Student, UNC School of Medicine
Winner of 2008 McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine
Edward Livingston Trudeau: The First American Physician-Scientist and the Fight against Tuberculosis
:: November 17, 2008 [49 MB, 52:38]
Dr. Elizabeth Fenn, Associate Professor of History, Duke University
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82
:: October 21, 2008 [61 MB, 1:05:18]
Wendy Moore, Freelance Journalist and Author (England)
The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery
:: September 23, 2008 [58 MB, 1:02:02]
Ansley Herring Wegner, Research Historian, North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Phantom Pain: North Carolina's Artificial Limbs Program for Confederate Amputees
:: September 17, 2008 [34 MB, 36:32]
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
SAHMS: Call for Papers on the History of Medicine
The Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS) has issued a call for paper proposals for its twelfth annual meeting on March 5-6, 2010 in Louisville, KY, co-sponsored by the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Innominate Society.
SAHMS welcomes papers on the history of medicine and science, broadly construed to encompass historical, literary, anthropological, philosophical and sociological approaches to health care and science including race, disabilities and gender studies. Participants may propose individual papers or panels of several papers on a particular theme. Each presenter is limited to 20 minutes, with additional time for questions and discussion. Complete details for submissions are available on the SAHMS web site. Proposals should be submitted no later than September 30, 2009.
SAHMS welcomes papers on the history of medicine and science, broadly construed to encompass historical, literary, anthropological, philosophical and sociological approaches to health care and science including race, disabilities and gender studies. Participants may propose individual papers or panels of several papers on a particular theme. Each presenter is limited to 20 minutes, with additional time for questions and discussion. Complete details for submissions are available on the SAHMS web site. Proposals should be submitted no later than September 30, 2009.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
BMJ Offers Prize for Use of Its Online Archive
To celebrate online access to all research articles since the first published in October 1840, BMJ, or the British Medical Journal, is offering a 1,000-pound prize to the "most interesting use" of its archive. Entrants to the competition must describe their actual use of the archive in an article that is submitted by the September 30, 2009 deadline. Complete guidelines are available at the BMJ site.
To highlight some of the many influential contributions to medical scholarship and practice that have appeared in its pages over the years, BMJ is also producing a series of videos that describe the work of such people as James Simpson (chloroform), Joseph Lister (antisepsis), Ronald Ross and Patrick Manson (mosquitoes and malaria), Richard Dahl (smoking and cancer), Alice Stewart (x-rays and leukemia), and others. The first video in the series, "The Evidence," is now available online.
BMJ began as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal in 1840 and after various name changes became the British Medical Journal in 1857. BMJ was the first general medical journal to participate in PubMed Central, which offered to digitize and provide open access to the journal's back issues. Initial difficulties included assembling a complete run of the journal in all its incarnations as well as overcoming the many technical issues inherent in digitizing historical materials, such as poor paper quality and bleed-through during scanning.
The National Library of Medicine, and later, the Wellcome Trust and the Joint Information Systems Committee, provided financial support for the project, with an estimated expense of $1 per page for the 824,183 total pages of the print journal. At present, BMJ is available both at the BMJ web site and at PubMed Central. Access to article type, however, varies between the two resources. In January 2006, BMJ stopped offering free online access to non-research articles, although research articles are still available from the time of publication at both bmj.com and PubMed Central. Further information on the online archive can be found in a recent BMJ editorial.
To highlight some of the many influential contributions to medical scholarship and practice that have appeared in its pages over the years, BMJ is also producing a series of videos that describe the work of such people as James Simpson (chloroform), Joseph Lister (antisepsis), Ronald Ross and Patrick Manson (mosquitoes and malaria), Richard Dahl (smoking and cancer), Alice Stewart (x-rays and leukemia), and others. The first video in the series, "The Evidence," is now available online.
BMJ began as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal in 1840 and after various name changes became the British Medical Journal in 1857. BMJ was the first general medical journal to participate in PubMed Central, which offered to digitize and provide open access to the journal's back issues. Initial difficulties included assembling a complete run of the journal in all its incarnations as well as overcoming the many technical issues inherent in digitizing historical materials, such as poor paper quality and bleed-through during scanning.
The National Library of Medicine, and later, the Wellcome Trust and the Joint Information Systems Committee, provided financial support for the project, with an estimated expense of $1 per page for the 824,183 total pages of the print journal. At present, BMJ is available both at the BMJ web site and at PubMed Central. Access to article type, however, varies between the two resources. In January 2006, BMJ stopped offering free online access to non-research articles, although research articles are still available from the time of publication at both bmj.com and PubMed Central. Further information on the online archive can be found in a recent BMJ editorial.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Dr. Oliver Smithies Videos Now Online
On March 30, 2009, the UNC Health Sciences Library hosted "A Conversation with Dr. Oliver Smithies." The event was moderated by Dr. Tony Waldrop, UNC Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, and featured a conversation with Smithies and a lengthy question-and-answer with the audience, which was composed of numerous students, researchers, staff, and faculty, as well as members of the public. Several video excerpts from this event are now available online (below); for transcripts of the videos, visit the library web site.
For other Smithies-related postings on the Carolina Curator blog, click here; for a collection of Smithies' Nobel-related materials, visit the Highlights section of the HSL Special Collections web site.
UNC maintains a channel for university-related YouTube videos, which can be accessed at the YouTube site; a playlist for Health & Medicine videos is also available. In addition, UNC Health Care and the School of Medicine maintain a YouTube channel, with playlists for news, grand rounds, and more.
For other Smithies-related postings on the Carolina Curator blog, click here; for a collection of Smithies' Nobel-related materials, visit the Highlights section of the HSL Special Collections web site.
UNC maintains a channel for university-related YouTube videos, which can be accessed at the YouTube site; a playlist for Health & Medicine videos is also available. In addition, UNC Health Care and the School of Medicine maintain a YouTube channel, with playlists for news, grand rounds, and more.
Monday, April 20, 2009
History Essay Deadline Extended
The deadline for the McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine has been extended to May 31, 2009. Open to all current UNC-CH students in Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Allied Health, the award is sponsored by the Bullitt History of Medicine Club and offers a prize of $500 for the best essay on any aspect of the history of the health sciences. Visit the Bullitt Club web site for essay guidelines.
Funded by UNC alumni S. Gregory Boyd (MD '03, JD '04) and Laura Boyd (JD '02), the McLendon-Thomas Award honors Dr. William McLendon and Dr. Colin Thomas, Jr. and recognizes scholarly excellence in the history of health sciences. Greg and Laura Boyd live in New York City, where he is an attorney with Davis & Gilbert LLP and she is a legal recruiter with SJL Attorney Search. Greg considers the history of medicine to be one of the most important aspects of his medical education and and Drs. McClendon and Thomas among the best role models possible. They both strongly believe that the history of medicine represents a critical perspective and focus on the art of medicine that are necessary for training the best possible physicians, health care executives, and policy makers.
Dr. William W. McLendon served from 1973-1995 at UNC as Director of the Hospital Clinical Laboratories and as Professor and Vice-Chair of Pathology. Since his retirement in 1995 he has been Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. An MD graduate of UNC in 1956, he and Bob Whitlock (MD '57) were the student co-founders in 1954 of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club. Dr. McLendon is the co-author, along with the late Drs. William Blythe and Floyd Denny, of the recently published Bettering the Health of the People: W. Reece Berryhill, the UNC School of Medicine, and the North Carolina Good Health Movement.
Dr. Colin G. Thomas, Jr. joined the faculty of the UNC School of Medicine in 1952, and is currently Byah Thomason-Sanford Doxey Professor of Surgery. From 1966-1984 he served as Chair of the Department of Surgery, and from 1984-1989 as Chief of the Division of General Surgery. Dr. Thomas was one of the early faculty members of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club, and is the co-author, along with Mary Jane Kagarise, of the 1997 history, Legends and
Legacies: A Look Inside: Four Decades of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1952-1993.
Funded by UNC alumni S. Gregory Boyd (MD '03, JD '04) and Laura Boyd (JD '02), the McLendon-Thomas Award honors Dr. William McLendon and Dr. Colin Thomas, Jr. and recognizes scholarly excellence in the history of health sciences. Greg and Laura Boyd live in New York City, where he is an attorney with Davis & Gilbert LLP and she is a legal recruiter with SJL Attorney Search. Greg considers the history of medicine to be one of the most important aspects of his medical education and and Drs. McClendon and Thomas among the best role models possible. They both strongly believe that the history of medicine represents a critical perspective and focus on the art of medicine that are necessary for training the best possible physicians, health care executives, and policy makers.
Dr. William W. McLendon served from 1973-1995 at UNC as Director of the Hospital Clinical Laboratories and as Professor and Vice-Chair of Pathology. Since his retirement in 1995 he has been Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. An MD graduate of UNC in 1956, he and Bob Whitlock (MD '57) were the student co-founders in 1954 of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club. Dr. McLendon is the co-author, along with the late Drs. William Blythe and Floyd Denny, of the recently published Bettering the Health of the People: W. Reece Berryhill, the UNC School of Medicine, and the North Carolina Good Health Movement.
Dr. Colin G. Thomas, Jr. joined the faculty of the UNC School of Medicine in 1952, and is currently Byah Thomason-Sanford Doxey Professor of Surgery. From 1966-1984 he served as Chair of the Department of Surgery, and from 1984-1989 as Chief of the Division of General Surgery. Dr. Thomas was one of the early faculty members of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club, and is the co-author, along with Mary Jane Kagarise, of the 1997 history, Legends and
Legacies: A Look Inside: Four Decades of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1952-1993.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Online Exhibition: UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
"UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health: Meeting the Public Health Challenges of the 21st Century" is a new online exhibition at the UNC Health Sciences Library that features both current initiatives and the history of the School, which was renamed on September 26, 2008 following a $50 million gift from Joan and Dennis Gillings. Visitors will find sections on the Gillings Gift, Research and Teaching, Community and Global Outreach, Water, School History and Deans, North Carolina Public Health History, and a research guide to public health resources at UNC.Based on a collaborative exhibition which is still on display at the Health Sciences Library, the online version incorporates audio and video selections (such as highlights from the naming ceremony and oral history interviews), a slide show from the Daniel Okun Papers, and many other materials. Library collections and projects are also well represented, including NC Health Info, the AHEC Digital Library, the UNC Project Library in Malawi, and digital initiatives at the library, etc.
Information on other exhibitions at HSL, University Libraries, and UNC is available at the Exhibitions section of the HSL Special Collections web site.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
We Celebrate All Our Champions
. . . Whether They Can Dunk or Not
Congratulations to all the scholars, athletes, and scholar-athletes at UNC! Highlights from the Tar Heels 2009 NCAA men's basketball championship are available online.
For PDFs of images above, click student poster or Smithies poster. (UNC Professor Oliver Smithies' Nobel-related materials are also available online.)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The History of Eugenics in North Carolina
In North Carolina over 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974 under the state’s Eugenics Sterilization Program. Indiana was the first state to implement such a program, and eventually over 30 states followed suit, including North Carolina in 1929. The Eugenics Board of North Carolina reviewed petitions for sterilizations and authorized sterilizations in over 90% of cases. Of those sterilized, approximately 38% were black and 84% were female; moreover, 71% were classified as “feebleminded.” While most states’ sterilization programs diminished in scope after World War II, almost 80% of North Carolina’s cases occurred after 1945. By the late 1960’s over 60% of those sterilized in North Carolina were black and 99% were female.
North Carolina Governor Michael Easley established a committee to investigate the state’s Eugenics Sterilization Program, and currently the General Assembly of North Carolina is considering two bills: House Bill 21, Eugenics Program – Support and Education and Senate Bill 179, Sterilization Compensation.
House Bill 21 is: “An act to provide counseling benefits to eugenics survivors, to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a database of eugenics program participants and verify the status of persons contacting the state to determine their participation in the state program, to erect a historical marker about the program, to direct the State Board of Education to include information about the program in its K-12 history curriculum, to recommend creation of an ethics training module for state, county, and local government employees, and to direct the Department of Cultural Resources to digitize existing records for preservation and study purposes, as recommended by the House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization.”
Senate Bill 179 proposes that: “Any person who, as a result of the eugenic sterilization program in this State, was sterilized between the years of 1929 and 1975 shall receive compensation as provided for in this section if the person submits a claim before June 30, 2012."
The current status of both bills, as for any pending legislation, can be tracked online at the web site of the General Assembly of North Carolina: House Bill 21 and Senate Bill 179.
Readers interested in learning more about this topic can visit Eugenics in North Carolina, a web project of the State Library of North Carolina. The Winston-Salem Journal also has an online eugenics project, entitled Against Their Will: North Carolina’s Sterilization Program.
In addition, Special Collections at UNC Health Sciences Library, in collaboration with the Carolina Digital Library and Archive, has digitized all volumes of the Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina [1934-1966], as well as North Carolina journals and documents in public health and other areas as part of an ongoing digital initiative.
North Carolina Governor Michael Easley established a committee to investigate the state’s Eugenics Sterilization Program, and currently the General Assembly of North Carolina is considering two bills: House Bill 21, Eugenics Program – Support and Education and Senate Bill 179, Sterilization Compensation.
House Bill 21 is: “An act to provide counseling benefits to eugenics survivors, to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a database of eugenics program participants and verify the status of persons contacting the state to determine their participation in the state program, to erect a historical marker about the program, to direct the State Board of Education to include information about the program in its K-12 history curriculum, to recommend creation of an ethics training module for state, county, and local government employees, and to direct the Department of Cultural Resources to digitize existing records for preservation and study purposes, as recommended by the House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization.”
Senate Bill 179 proposes that: “Any person who, as a result of the eugenic sterilization program in this State, was sterilized between the years of 1929 and 1975 shall receive compensation as provided for in this section if the person submits a claim before June 30, 2012."
The current status of both bills, as for any pending legislation, can be tracked online at the web site of the General Assembly of North Carolina: House Bill 21 and Senate Bill 179.
Readers interested in learning more about this topic can visit Eugenics in North Carolina, a web project of the State Library of North Carolina. The Winston-Salem Journal also has an online eugenics project, entitled Against Their Will: North Carolina’s Sterilization Program.
In addition, Special Collections at UNC Health Sciences Library, in collaboration with the Carolina Digital Library and Archive, has digitized all volumes of the Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina [1934-1966], as well as North Carolina journals and documents in public health and other areas as part of an ongoing digital initiative.
Bullitt Lecture on Blemished Bodies and Persons
The next joint meeting of UNC’s Bullitt History of Medicine Club and Duke’s Trent History of Medicine Society will be Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at the UNC Health Sciences Library in the 5th Floor Conference Room (527). Please join us at 5:30pm for light refreshments followed by the lecture at 6pm. Meetings are free and open to the public.
Dr. Sue Estroff, Professor of Social Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, will be presenting a lecture entitled, "Blemished Bodies and Persons: An Historical Perspective on Stigma."
Sue E. Estroff, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, and adjunct professor in the departments of Anthropology and Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her studies include: B.A., Duke University, magna cum laude, 1972; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978 (Anthropology); Post Doctoral Fellow in Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1978-1981. She joined the UNC faculty in 1982, and was Chair of the Faculty from 2000-03. In 1984, she received the Margaret Mead award from the American Anthropological Association and Society for Applied Anthropology, and she has served as past president of the Society for Medical Anthropology.
Dr. Estroff's research areas include: individuals with chronic illness and disabilities; cultural approaches to psychosis; sociocultural factors that influence the course of psychiatric disorders; disability income policy and practice; illness narratives; moral reasoning and the production of knowledge in qualitative scholarship; reconsidering the association of violence with persons with psychiatric disorders; and complexities of consent in maternal fetal surgery. Estroff teaches medical students, supervises dissertators in the Department of Anthropology, serves on thesis committees across campus, and teaches graduate seminars in methods and ethics.
Dr. Estroff is a co-editor of The Social Medicine Reader, which is now in its second edition. Other recent publications include: ‘No Other Way to Go’ Pathways to Disability Income Among Persons with Severe, Persistent Mental Illness; Whose Story Is It Anyway: Authority, Voice, and Responsibility in Narratives of Chronic Illness; The Influence of Social Networks and Social Support on Violence by Persons with Serious Mental Illness; Risk Reconsidered: Targets of Violence in the Social Networks of People with Serious Psychiatric Disorders; The Cultural Calculus of Consent in Experimental Maternal Fetal Surger; Recognizing and Responding To Early Psychosis: A Qualitative Analysis Of Individual Narratives; and From Stigma to Discrimination: An Analysis of Community Efforts to Reduce the Negative Consequences of a Psychiatric Disorder and Label.
For directions to the UNC Health Sciences Library, visit the HSL website. The Robertson Scholars Express Bus travels non-stop between UNC (Morehead Planetarium) and Duke (Chapel Circle).
For more information on the Bullitt Club, please visit the Bullitt website. Bullitt lectures for 2008-9 are now available as mp3 downloads.
Dr. Sue Estroff, Professor of Social Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, will be presenting a lecture entitled, "Blemished Bodies and Persons: An Historical Perspective on Stigma."
Sue E. Estroff, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, and adjunct professor in the departments of Anthropology and Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her studies include: B.A., Duke University, magna cum laude, 1972; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978 (Anthropology); Post Doctoral Fellow in Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1978-1981. She joined the UNC faculty in 1982, and was Chair of the Faculty from 2000-03. In 1984, she received the Margaret Mead award from the American Anthropological Association and Society for Applied Anthropology, and she has served as past president of the Society for Medical Anthropology.
Dr. Estroff's research areas include: individuals with chronic illness and disabilities; cultural approaches to psychosis; sociocultural factors that influence the course of psychiatric disorders; disability income policy and practice; illness narratives; moral reasoning and the production of knowledge in qualitative scholarship; reconsidering the association of violence with persons with psychiatric disorders; and complexities of consent in maternal fetal surgery. Estroff teaches medical students, supervises dissertators in the Department of Anthropology, serves on thesis committees across campus, and teaches graduate seminars in methods and ethics.
Dr. Estroff is a co-editor of The Social Medicine Reader, which is now in its second edition. Other recent publications include: ‘No Other Way to Go’ Pathways to Disability Income Among Persons with Severe, Persistent Mental Illness; Whose Story Is It Anyway: Authority, Voice, and Responsibility in Narratives of Chronic Illness; The Influence of Social Networks and Social Support on Violence by Persons with Serious Mental Illness; Risk Reconsidered: Targets of Violence in the Social Networks of People with Serious Psychiatric Disorders; The Cultural Calculus of Consent in Experimental Maternal Fetal Surger; Recognizing and Responding To Early Psychosis: A Qualitative Analysis Of Individual Narratives; and From Stigma to Discrimination: An Analysis of Community Efforts to Reduce the Negative Consequences of a Psychiatric Disorder and Label.
For directions to the UNC Health Sciences Library, visit the HSL website. The Robertson Scholars Express Bus travels non-stop between UNC (Morehead Planetarium) and Duke (Chapel Circle).
For more information on the Bullitt Club, please visit the Bullitt website. Bullitt lectures for 2008-9 are now available as mp3 downloads.
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