Featured Course
MED 2115 - history of biomedical thought
Instructor: Carey Balaban
Course description
This seminar course surveys the history of biomedical concepts from Aristotle through the close of the nineteenth century. Primary and secondary source materials form the basis for an exploration of concepts of normal biology and disease etiology of each time period within the context of both contemporaneous ideas and methods in the physical and biological sciences, the humanities and broader societal factors. The general background and context for each topic is provided by a secondary source, Thomas S. Hall’s Ideas of Life and Matter: Studies in the History of General Physiology, 600 B.C.-1900 A.D. (University of Chicago Press, 1969) and primary source material (e.g., writings of Hippocratic corpus, Aristotle, Celsus, Galen, Avicenna, Willis, von Haller, Cullen, Rush, Koch and Pasteur) and nineteenth century medical textbooks will form a basis for detailed exploration of the evolution of Western biomedical scientific ideas over two millennia. The discussion of these readings within their appropriate historical contexts will elucidate factors that influence scientific discourse, experimental design and the interpretive process. As a result, the students will develop an inductive understanding of the development of the modern biomedical sciences and the complex interrelationships between basic research, applied research and medical practice.
Students who may be interested in this course
This course should be helpful to students with (1) a premed or biology background (2) a background in the history and philosophy of science and (3) a desire to explore the intellectual heritage of modern biomedical thought. It will be a core course in the pending certificate program in the History of Medicine.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the basis of (1) attendance and participation in discussions, (2) two short papers on assigned topics and (3) a term paper.
Prerequisites
General background in biology, physiology and anatomy is helpful but not essential.
About the instructor
Carey Balaban is Professor of Otolaryngology, Neurobiology and Communication Sciences. He is a graduate of the Honor’s College at Michigan State University (B.A. in History with high honors, 1975) and The University of Chicago (Ph.D., Anatomy, 1979). He spent 2 ½ years as a post-doctoral fellow at the First Department of Physiology, University of Tokyo. After nearly six years on the faculty at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, The Pennsylvania State University, he moved to the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Balaban maintains an active basic research program in vestibular function. In addition to primary teaching responsibilities in Medical Neuroscience, Dr. Balaban teaches a graduate course on Intellectual History of Neuroscience and participates in both medical and undergraduate courses on history of medicine. He has also co-edited and annotated new editions of two mid-seventeenth century self-help medical books, The Skilful Physician (Harwood Academic, 1997) and The Ladies Dispensatory (Routledge, 2003). As an alumnus of an original Honor’s College program, he maintains that there is no greater pleasure (or source of intellectual stimulation) than teaching in the Honor’s College.