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San Francisco: Departments
History of Health
Sciences
Humanistics
History of Health Sciences
From its beginning, faculty members of the
Medical School opened their courses of instruction with historical
introductions. A formal course in medical history was first offered
in 1929 at the San Francisco campus by Chauncey D. Leake. With support
from Dean Langley Porter, and as a result of stimulating visits
from Charles Singer, George Sarton, William Henry Welch, and Leroy
Crummer, a departmental program was organized in association with
library developments. Sanford Larkey was appointed librarian and
associate professor of medical history and bibliography in 1930,
and the Crummer Room for the History of Medicine was established
in the new Clinic Building.
In addition to a formal, one-semester
course open to all students at the San Francisco campus, seminars
were developed by Herbert M. Evans, John B. deC. M. Saunders, and
Chauncey Leake, and graduate students were accepted for advanced
study. The Department of Medical History and Bibliography was the
first of its kind to be organized in the country.
In 1935, when Larkey went to Johns Hopkins Medical
School as librarian of the Welch Memorial Library, Leake became
librarian and professor of medical history and bibliography, and
continued to promote the program. Frances Tomlinson Gardner became
curator of the Medical History Collections, which grew to some 14,000
items by 1941. Special gifts were made by many: general English
classics from Hans Lisser; sixteenth-century classics from Leroy
Crummer; a comprehensive Osler collection from Esther Rosencrantz; Greek medical
classics from Pan S. Codellas; California medical classics from
Henry Harris; and a large collection on the history of anesthesia
from Leake. Publications from the department were made by Mrs. Gardner,
John M. D. Olmsted, Felix Cunha, Saunders, and Leake.
When Leake left for Texas in 1942, Saunders became
librarian and chairman of the department. Unfortunately, the speed-up
training program of World War II resulted in abandoning the formal
course on medical history. Yet the historical collections were fostered
and special seminars were offered by Otto Guttentag, Evans, and
Saunders. In 1958, a new library facility was provided and the historical
collections were housed in appropriate quarters. Important publications
on da Vinci, Vesalius, and Egyptian medicine were made by Saunders
and his colleagues. The studies on Egyptian medicine by Leake and
by Saunders were featured in Logan Clendening Lectures at the University
of Kansas.
Leake returned in 1963, when president of the
American Association for the History of Medicine, and offered a
voluntary summer course in the history and philosophy of medicine.
Many special historical exhibits were arranged. The well-known authority
on Oriental medicine, Ilza Veith of the University of Chicago, came
in 1964 as professor of medical history. A large collection of Oriental
medical classics was obtained, and the historical collections grew,
under Saunders' guidance, to over 20,000 items. The department offered
special seminars and medical students were encouraged to try historical
research. Significant publications were made by staff members, including
important items by Evans, Karl F. Meyer, Salvatore P. Lucia, and
Veith.
In order to encourage all students at the San
Francisco campus to become interested in the historical and humanistic
aspects of their studies, the name was changed in 1965 to the Department
of the History of the Health Sciences. source
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Humanistics
The Division of Humanistics was established
in the School of Dentistry in 1962 to meet the educational need
brought about by changing social and economic factors which were
having a profound effect on the traditional methods of medical and
dental practice.
The majority of these factors began to develop
during the depression of the 1930's, and their impact began to be
felt through various types of legislation, such as social security
and the expanded use of health insurance. Impetus to this movement
was added during World War II as salaries and wages were frozen
and the unions negotiating with management began to develop "fringe
benefits," many of which related health benefits to union membership.
This began to spread to other segments of the population; veterans'
benefits gave further impetus; city, county, and state welfare programs
were expanded.
All of these developments indicated a growing
feeling on the part of the American public that the provision of
health services was as much a necessity as food, shelter, and clothing.
Articles began appearing in dental literature describing these trends
and deploring the lack of preparation of graduate dental students
to face and accept the effects of these changes on dental practice.
Although the School of Dentistry traditionally offered instruction
in dental economics, public health, orientation, jurisprudence,
ethics, nutrition, history, and psychology, the Division of Humanistics
was organized to fulfill the educational research needs proposed
by this expanded frontier.
In 1965, it was not proposed to add any new courses,
but simply to take already existing courses and organize them in a
coordinated divisional structure. The objective of the division
was to prepare the dental graduate to understand and appreciate
his social role and his responsibilities in the community. source
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