Jan
13

Humanities in Medicine Lecture Series

January 13th, 2010

Trent Center For Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine
Humanities in Medicine Lecture Series

"Early American Plagues and Evidence-based Medicine"

Stephen Gehlbach MD, MPH
Professor Emeritus
School of Public Health and Health Sciences
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
12:00-1:00 pm
Duke North Hospital Lecture Hall 2002

Lunch provided at NOON
Talk begins at 12:15PM

The use of systematically collected data to guide clinical and health policy decisions, or "evidence-based medicine," has only recently become part of the medical lexicon. Yet elements of the concept can be seen back in the early 18th century when Zabdiel Boylston and Cotton Mather battled a hostile citizenry over smallpox inoculation. Acceptance of the approach has been halting as several other historical episodes illustrate. We'll explore possible reasons why and why outbursts of opposition continue.

Stephen H. Gehlbach, MD, MPH served as dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for the past 16 years. Formerly, he was a member of the medical school faculties at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University and at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. Dr. Gehlbach has written two books on epidemiology education: Interpreting the Medical Literature, now in the fifth edition, and American Plagues: Lessons from Our Battles with Disease. His current research program focuses on enhancing recognition and treatment of osteoporosis.

For more information, please contact us at 668-9000 or trent-center@duke.edu