A Different Kind of Bank: The History of Blood Storage
Blood. I’m certain many of you are all too familiar with the life-giving fluid that flows through our veins, and seeing it in abundance is very rarely a good thing. However, blood banks are an exception – a very vital and necessary exception. The ‘creator’ of the first blood bank is a subject of debate,...
Honoring a Pioneer: James McCune Smith, MD
“I have striven to obtain education, at every sacrifice and every hazard, and to apply such education to the good of our common country.” Standing against centuries of discrimination, James McCune Smith, MD was the first African American to earn a medical degree and run a U.S. pharmacy. Smith was born in 1813 in New...
Edward Anthony Jenner
Did you know that pus was once used extensively for vaccinations? We often take for granted how convenient our lives can be in this modern age. A vaccination, for example, is little more these days than the prick of a needle. Imagine for a moment, however, that in order to receive a flu vaccination, your...
Honoring a Pioneer: Albert Ross Tilley
Albert Ross Tilley, CM OBE (November 24, 1904 – April 19, 1988) was a Canadian plastic surgeon who pioneered the treatment of burned airmen during Second World War. Tilley was born in Bowmanville, Ontario and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1929. He was one of the first physicians in Canada to train in...
Honoring a Pioneer: Wilder Graves Penfield
Wilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, CMG, FRS (January 26, 1891 – April 5, 1976) was, ironically, the son of a failed physician. In 1899, his father’s failed medical practice forced his mother to take the children to live with her parents, becoming a writer, housekeeper, and Bible teacher in order to support her family. In...
Beware the Evil Tooth Worm
Long ago, an enterprising man with a penchant for dentistry plucked an apple from the orchard as he made his way to work. Alas, his breakfast was thwarted when a small worm poked its head from the hole it had made within its juicy home. The apple was abandoned . . . or perhaps the...
3 Brazened Quacks
3 Brazened QuacksWithout a doubt, the history of medicine is a dignified one, with a fundamental goal to alleviate human suffering and prolong human life. But it is not without a share of con artists, charlatans and incompetents, whose greatest malevolence was to cast doubts on the real advantages of proven medicine in the minds...
Theodor Billroth: A Surgeon by Profession, A Musician by Passion
Theodor Billroth, the Father of Modern Abdominal Surgery, never planned to be a doctor. As a matter of fact, his passion was music, and he was deemed to be a poor student who lacked the ability to focus on anything else. However, at the wishes of his mother and the prodding of his friends, Theodor...
Honoring a Pioneer: Dr. Emma Willits
Emma Willits is known as the first woman to head a surgery department in the United States. Born in 1869 in Macedon, New York, Emma was educated at Quaker schools and in 1892, she moved to Chicago to enroll at the Women’s Medical College of Chicago. At that time, female surgeons were essentially unheard of,...
A Heartfelt Miracle
The holiday season is a perfect time for miracles, and miracles that end up saving not one, but thousands of lives are especially deserving of celebration. On December 3rd, 1967 in South Africa – a far cry from a snowy New York 34th street – Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed a miracle, the first human-to-human heart...
“If Life Isn’t Fun, What’s The Point?”
In honor of National Nurse Practitioner Week, I wanted to take a moment to honor one of our customers, an exceptional Nurse Practitioner named Mimi Secor. Like many of the female pioneers I write about, Mimi has dedicated her career to helping others – in particular underserved women and their families. She has made it...
Honoring a Pioneer: Alexander Fleming
“Nature makes penicillin; I just found it.” Indeed, Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin was a product of serendipitous events, far more than scientific planning and intent. Sir Alexander Fleming was born in 1881 at Lochfield, a farm outside Darvel, a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third child, with seven other brothers and...
