C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society
Pittsburgh-based medical history and humanities organization that hosts free public lectures
Monday, April 1, 2024
Virulent: The Vaccine War
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, from 7-9pm
Monday, March 4, 2024
Inaugural Michaels Lecture: Gender, Race, and Science in Med School Design
Image: University of Pittsburgh School of Dentistry shortly after construction (1912). University of Pittsburgh Archives photograph collection, 1971-2006, item 31735070042936.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
“Accompanying History: The Journey to Undocumented Physicians”
~ Inaugural John Erlen Lecture ~
Mark G. Kuczewski, PhD, HEC-C
Medical history and bioethics are siblings under the rubric of “health humanities.” For this lecture, Dr. Kuczewski will explore the history of undocumented healers in the United States. He has been engaged in bedside clinical ethics issues for more than 25 years. For the last decade, he has also been an articulate spokesperson for the just and equitable treatment of immigrant patients, medical students, and clinicians. At noon, Dr. Kuczewski will present a Grand Rounds entitled “Caring for Immigrant Patients: Clinical and Institutional Challenges” to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine.
All Reynolds Society lectures are free and open to the public. This is the link to watch the recording of the evening lecture. You can check back here to see if the Grand Rounds recording has been posted.
Image description: We see the back of a young woman with brown skin and a long dark brown braid pulled forward over her shoulder. Colorful flowers and the words "I am one of those people Mexico sent" in white are painted on her bright red graduation mortar board with tassel. Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / San Antonio Report (2017)
Thursday, November 30, 2023
"Could a situation be more ghastly?": Doctors, Disinfectants, and the Dead After the Johnstown Flood of 1889
Click here to watch the recording of the lecture. A brief business meeting took place before the lecture with reports from the Secretary and Treasurer as well as an election; see the Contact Us page for the current officers.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Putting Science to Work: Women Healers and the Pursuit of Medical Knowledge in Early Pennsylvania
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Donora: Clean air started here
When you drive across the Donora-Monessen Bridge, you're greeted by a sign that reads, "Next to yours, the best town in the USA." Although the area has suffered both during the 5 decades there was a U.S. Steel plant along the horseshoe bend in the Monongahela River, and in the 7 decades since then, Donorans are incredibly proud of their hometown, which birthed not only Stan "The Man" Musial but both Ken Griffey, Sr., and Jr. The C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society was there to mark the 75th anniversary of a freak weather event that smothered the valley with the smoke from domestic fires, motor vehicles, trains, as well as industrial toxins from the wire factory and especially the zinc smelter. It became a rallying cry for the environmental movement in the middle of the 20th century.
We were treated to a private lecture by the Donora Historical Society's historian, Brian Charlton, who can talk extensively and extemporaneously about the area.Wednesday, September 6, 2023
The Child Amputee in Post-World War II America
Dr. Lisa Joy Pruitt, PhD (Middle Tennessee University), will give the Annual Ravitch Lecture to kick off the C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society's 40th lecture season. Before 1945, the standard of care for child amputees and/or those with congenital limb differences was to delay treatment and rehabilitation when possible or otherwise to cope with surgical procedures and prosthetic limbs designed for adults. After 1945, practitioners coordinated their efforts, revolutionized the rehabilitation of child amputees, and profoundly influenced the development of pediatric prosthetics.
A recording of this free public online talk can be found by clicking here.