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Ellen R. Cohn, Editor of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Yale University
will present the spring Heberden Society Lecture on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 4:30 p.m.
This will be the final Heberden Society lecture of the 2012-13 academic year, and promises to be a fascinating talk.

Benjamin Franklin's Contributions to Medicine
Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 4:30 p.m. (Light refreshments at 4:15)
Uris Faculty Room (A-126)
Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue

Printer, promoter, philanthropist, inventor, investigator. Throughout his life, Benjamin Franklin attempted to "do good to man" by seeing that the best medical practices were available to the widest number of people, often using his influence to convince a skeptical public to embrace new ideas that were either frightening (such as inoculation) or suspicious (such as allowing fresh air into a bed chamber or sick room).

Ellen R. Cohn will discuss some of Franklin's significant contributions to medicine, including his work with William Heberden, Sr., on inoculation, his invention of medical devices, his observations on the causes of disease and the efficacy of remedies, his role in founding America's first hospital, and his work as head of the French royal commission that investigated the medical claims of Anton Mesmer. Ever the wit as well as the scientist, Franklin's trenchant observations on doctors and charlatans continue to enliven the study of the history of medicine.

Ellen R. Cohn is the Editor of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, a comprehensive, annotated edition based at Yale University and co-sponsored by Yale and the American Philosophical Society.

The Heberden Society, which seeks to promote an interest in the history of medicine, was founded at the medical center in 1975. With funding from the WCMC Office of the Dean, the society sponsors a series of lectures during each academic year.

David B. Levine, M.D.
Emeritus Professor, Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery
Weill Cornell Medical College
Director, Alumni Association and Archives
Hospital for Special Surgery
will present the winter 2013 Heberden Society lecture.

The Civil War and its Casualties

Wednesday, January 23, 2013. 4:30 p.m.
Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue
Uris Faculty Room (A-126)

Dr. Levine's talk will be followed by a reception:
Samuel J. Wood Medical Library, room C-115, 5:30 p.m.
in celebration of the travelling exhibition Life and Limb: the Toll of the American Civil War. This exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

In addition, an exhibition prepared by the Medical Center Archives highlights New York Hospital physicians and future faculty of the Cornell University Medical College who served in the Civil War.

From the beginning of the Civil War in April 1861, until the Confederate States surrendered in April 1865, the casualties and deaths on both sides were monumental, changing the face of medical care in the United States, resulting in the creation of the Army Medical Corps, and taking medical care in the United States out of the "dark ages of medicine". New statistics reported in December 2011 by J. David Hacker, PhD, of the history department of Binghamton University, raise the death toll of the Civil War over 20% of what had been previously known. Disease accounted for twice as many deaths as battlefield injuries. Civil War era medicines and drugs available were generally without any scientific basis, and treatment often consisted of bleeding and mercurial purging (Blue Mass). Many believed in theories of "miasma" causing diseases such as cholera, chlamydia and malaria. Advanced military methods, with the introduction of the Minié ball, resulted in more devastating wounds. Over 60,000 amputations in the North and the South were performed, each taking an average of 15 minutes. Surgeons were often operating for 48 hours straight. Black soldiers contracted diseases nine times higher than battlefield injuries, receiving inferior care compared to white soldiers. There was only one woman physician, Mary Walker, M.D., who masqueraded as a Union officer. Death toll figures were higher than from all combined wars fought by the United States from 1917 to 2011.

About the speaker
Appointed first Director of the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Alumni Association in 2003, David B. Levine has published over a dozen articles on the history of medicine in the past 30 years. His book on the history of HSS, the oldest orthopaedic hospital in the country, will be published with eight other contributors in March, 2013, as Anatomy of a Hospital. It will mark the Sesquicentennial Celebration of HSS (1863-2013), featured at the 150th HSS Scientific Symposium, May 2-4, 2013.

A member of the Class of 1954 of Dartmouth College, Levine was awarded his medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University College of Medicine in 1957. He interned at Case Western Reserve's Metropolitan General Hospital, was a surgical resident at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital and spent two years on active duty as a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS Forrestal in the Sixth Fleet. Following graduation as an orthopaedic resident at HSS in 1964, Levine spent a year as a scoliosis fellow at University of Southern California's Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, returning to HSS in 1966 to become Director of Scoliosis in 1967 and Director of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1986. Retiring from active patient care in 1995, he moved with his wife Janet, an artist, to Florence, Italy, where he lectured at Careggi Orthopaedic Hospital, restored antique furniture, and mastered Italian cooking. He returned to New York in 1997. A fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Orthopaedic Association, founder and Past President of the Scoliosis Research Society, Dr. Levine is currently Historian of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons.

The Heberden Society, which seeks to promote an interest in the history of medicine, was founded in 1975. With funding from the Weill Cornell Medical College Office of the Dean, the society presents a series of lectures during each academic year.

Happy Holidays from the staff of the Medical Center Archives. We will be closed on December 24-26, and December 31-January 1. Enjoy the scene of the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing's Candlelight Ceremony, ca. 1940s.

An new exhibit has been installed in the 1300 York Avenue Lobby honoring the 70th anniversary of the Ninth General Hospital, which was organized by New York Hospital during World War II.

In October 1940, George Heuer, chairman/chief of the Department of Surgery received a request from the Secretary of War to reestablish the Ninth General Hospital. The New York Hospital also operated Base Hospital No. 9 in France during World War I. Two years later in July 1942, the Ninth General Hospital was called to active duty. Several doctors and nurses mostly from New York Hospital joined up to serve. The doctors went sent for military training at Fort Andrews, MA; while, the nurses went to Fort Devens, MA. The doctors trained the enlisted men as orderlies, nurses' aides, and technicians. The nurses worked at the Station Hospital at Fort Devens. Along with the nurses were dieticians, physical therapists, and red cross workers. It was a long tedious wait to be called oversees.

Finally in July 1943, they were given the order to go oversees to serve in the South Pacific. The doctors and nurses met in Boston where they boarded a large troop train headed to Stoneman Camp near San Francisco. It was the longest troop train at that time. They arrived in California where they boarded the ship SS David Shanks to take them to Brisbane Australia.

Once the Ninth General Hospital personnel arrived in Brisbane, Australia, they thought they would be taking over a brand new hospital in Australia. Instead that hospital was given to the University of Maryland unit, and Ninth General Hospital was assigned to Goodenough Island, off the coast of New Guinea.

In October 1943, the doctors and enlisted men went ahead to establish the hospital on this island. They arrived in pouring rain and marched from the ship to the large field where the hospital was to be built. It took them about six weeks to construct the hospital buildings including the telephone, electricity wires, and sewers. While the hospital was being built, the nurses stayed in Australia and worked at various hospitals in the area, or they were sent to other military hospitals in India, Egypt, Russia, and Africa. In December 1943, a few nurses arrived with the balanced arriving January-March 1944. The hospital suffered a setback in January 1944, when a monsoon hit and knock down six wards. Soon after the monsoon, a scrub typhoid fever broke out and several people became ill and 8 people died. The hospital served military units that were training on the island and as well as wounded soldiers. The hospital had orthopedic, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology clinics for outpatients. They also had departments for anesthesia, neurosurgery, gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, general surgery, and dental services. This hospital never saw many patients since it was away from the main battle zones. When they left the island, the hospital buildings were burned.

In August 1944, the Ninth General Hospital was ordered to go to Biak Island, which was closer to the South Pacific front. As before, the doctors and enlisted men went first to Biak Island, where they discovered that the Japanese was on the island and using the buildings they were planning to use as their hospital. Again the hospital had to be built by scratch. The nurses were dropped off at Hollandria, New Guinea until the new hospital was built. This hospital saw more action in war causalities. One exciting event was the capture of a Japanese soldier by Preston Wade, who found the starving Japanese soldier in the woods near the hospital compound.

In August 1945, some of the doctors were ordered to the Lingyen Gulf in Luzon, Philippines, however the war ended. After the war the Ninth General Hospital personnel were mustered out in Manila or transferred to another military hospital. The name Ninth General Hospital was given to a regular military hospital unit in Okinawa, Japan.

Many doctors who served in this hospital returned home to become prominent doctors at our medical center: including Frank Glenn, chairman/chief of Department of Surgery (he also served with the sixth army), Preston Wade, head of the trauma unit and one of John Kennedy's physicians, George Eagan, head of dentistry, and Bruce Webster, venereal disease specialist. The nurses included, Muriel Carbery, who became the dean of the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing.

Dr. Tauber's lecture has been cancelled due to transportation complications in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It will be rescheduled at a later date.

Please join us for our next lecture on Wednesday, January 23, at 4:30 p.m. David B. Levine will present on: The Civil War and its Casualties. More details to follow closer to the date.

The Heberden Society and the Division of Medical Ethics jointly present:

Alfred I. Tauber, M.D.
Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Boston University
Zoltan Kohn Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine

Requiem for the Ego: Freud Pushing Against the Postmodern Tide

Thursday, November 1, 2012 5:00 p.m.
Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue
Uris Faculty Room (A-126)

Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome.

Dr. Tauber's lecture will be the second Heberden Society lecture in the 2012-13 series. It will also be part of the Division of Medical Ethics Seminar Series, "Perspectives in Bioethics and Humanities".

Alfred I. Tauber, Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, and Zoltan Kohn Professor of Medicine, emeritus, was Director of Boston University's Center for Philosophy and History of Science from 1993-2010. He is author of Freud, the Reluctant Philosopher (Princeton 2010; Spanish edition in 2013), which was nominated for the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis Gradiva Award. He has recently completed Requiem for the Ego, which will be published by Stanford University Press next year. Dr. Tauber also holds a Visiting Professorship at Tel Aviv University, where he teaches philosophy of science at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas.

The Heberden Society, which seeks to promote an interest in the history of medicine, was founded at the medical center in 1975. With funding from the Office of the Dean, the society presents a series of lectures each academic year.

The Division of Medical Ethics Seminar Series is a CME activity.

A CME activity:

Target Audience Weill-Cornell physicians in medical ethics, other interested physicians and health care providers, and students.

Course Objectives:  This CME activity is intended to lead to improved patient care and safety based upon an assessment of gaps in physician knowledge, competence and performance. By the conclusion of this series, physicians should learn new content relevant to their practice that informs and thereby improves the clinical care they provide.

CME Accreditation and Credit Designation Statements: 
Weill Cornell Medical College is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Weill Cornell Medical College designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Faculty Disclosure:  It is the policy of Weill Cornell Medical College to adhere to ACCME Criteria, Policies, and Standards for Commercial Support and content validation in order to ensure fair balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all its sponsored programs. All faculty participating in sponsored programs are expected to disclose relevant financial relationships pertaining to their contribution to the activity, and any discussions of off-label or investigational uses of approved commercial products or devices, or of any products or devices not yet approved in the United States. WCMC CME activities are intended to be evidence-based and free of commercial bias. If you feel this is not the case, please call the Office of Continuing Medical Education at 212-746-2631 to anonymously express any concerns.

Dr. Tauber has nothing to disclose.
Course Director, Dr. Joseph Fins, and the Planning Committee: Cathleen Acres, Kerrine Carter and Maritza Montalvo have nothing to disclose.
WCMC does not accept industry support for any regularly scheduled series. Any exceptions to this are approved by the CME Committee, and will be disclosed prior to this presentation.