In 1929, a group of medical students approached the Chair of Medicine, Dr. Cyrus Sturgis, with an idea to launch a student-led organization dedicated to the extracurricular study of the history of medicine. With Dr. Sturgis’s assistance, these students established the Victor Vaughan Student Society for the History and Philosophy of Medicine, named for the long-serving dean of the Medical School.
For the next fifty years, members were invited from the senior class. During the Society’s first decades, students and faculty mentors presented lengthy papers at the monthly meetings, all preserved in bound volumes now housed in the University library. The format changed in 1980 to include presentations by students or faculty members interested in the history of medicine. The monthly meetings have included student papers, invited speakers, and sessions on literature and medicine. Members have visited the Medical Rare Book Room at the Taubman Health Sciences Library, the Bentley Historical Library, the William L. Clements Library, and other campus locations rich in medical history.
In 2003 the society found a permanent home at the Center for the History of Medicine, which is located in the historic Simpson Memorial Institute on Observatory Street. The first director of the Simpson Institute was Dr. Cyrus Sturgis, whose named library is located on the first floor of the Simpson building, so history and the Society truly have come full circle.
In 2019, several student members expressed concern over the name of the Society. In particular, students were uncomfortable with Victor Vaughan’s stance on eugenics and, as president of the Michigan State Board of Health, his support for the state’s 1913 forced sterilization law. In response, a meeting of the Society was convened to discuss changing the name of the organization. Members voted, and the name was changed to the Society for the History and Philosophy of Medicine.
Each fall, a new medical student leader is selected to be the Society president. The president, with input from Center faculty and staff, helps set the slate of monthly sessions for the subsequent academic year. All students, faculty, residents, and others interested in the history of medicine are welcome to attend the monthly meetings.
For more information, contact the Center at 734-647-6914, or e-mail the current Society president, Zuzanna Lutrzykowska at zuzanna@umich.edu.
Upcoming Meetings for the Society for the History and Philosophy of Medicine
| Date: Monday, March 13, 2023
Title: “Discipling Medicine in Pre-Modernity: Body, Soul, and Cosmic Entanglements in Greco-Roman and Islamicate Thought” Guest Speaker: Dr. Aileen Das, Assoc. Prof. of Classical Studies, Middle East Studies, and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan Virtual: https://umich.zoom.us/j/98589268257 Meeting ID: 985 8926 8257 Passcode: 880750 Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm |
Date: August TBD, 2023
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| Date: Monday, April 24, 2023
Title: “The Ethics of Moral Bioenhancement” Guest Speaker: Katie Wong, Philosophy Ph.D. Graduate Student, University of Michigan; EDGe Organizer, ADG Organizer Virtual: https://umich.zoom.us/j/95477987417 Meeting ID: 95477987417 Passcode: 899207 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
Date: September TBD, 2023
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| Date: Friday, May 5, 2023
Title: Reconsidering Lactose Intolerance – The Use of Milk in Traditional Chinese Medicine?” Guest Speaker: Miranda Brown, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Michigan Virtual: https://umich.zoom.us/j/98168300743 Meeting ID: 98168300743 Passcode: 264070 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
Date: Monday, October 16, 2023
Title: “Healthism, Elite Capture, and the Pitfalls of an Expansive Conception of Health.” Guest Speaker: Quill R. Kukla, Director of Disability Studies, Professor of Philosophy, Senior Research Scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University Description: Many theorists and organizations have moved towards an expansive conception of health, modeled on the WHO’s definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. While there are advantages to this kind of flexible definition, in this presentation, I will explore the ways in which an expansive conception of health can be weaponized as a tool of oppression, surveillance, and social and embodied discipline. I look at three case studies, in which this weaponization has been especially striking: healthy eating, healthy sexuality, and healthy gender identity. I argue that health is a concept that is especially vulnerable to what Olufemi Taiwo has called “elite capture,” wherein elites are able to hijack the meaning of socially important concepts, and use them to serve their own social interests. Virtual: https://umich.zoom.us/j/99661999852 Meeting ID: 99661999852 Passcode: 447453 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
| Date: June TBD, 2023
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Date: November TBD, 2023
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| Date: Monday, July 3, 2023
Title: “Repairing the Broken Body: The History of Medicine for Wounds and Injuries in Imperial China” Description: When people today think of “Chinese medicine,” what typically comes to mind is a holistic form of vitality-based medicine used to cure chronic ailments. Historically, however, the management of acute and life-threatening conditions–including traumatic injuries and wounds–was an important part of medicine in China. This talk will use examples from military medicine, bone setting, and forensic medicine to showcase the historical diversity of healing in China. It will also explore how the need to repair physically damaged bodies shaped the development of Chinese medical knowledge over time. Guest Speaker: Yi-Li Wu, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and History, University of Michigan Virtual: https://umich.zoom.us/j/93364377570 Meeting ID: 933 6437 7570 Passcode: 685701 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
Date: December TBD, 2023
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