Dec
2
6:00 PM18:00

The Pandemic Imagination: between science, history and public health

2020 Bynum Lecture, History of Medicine Society. Royal Society of Medicine, London

This lecture decries narrow technocratic solutions and short-term thinking in public life. Instead, I call for the cultivation of a more capacious pandemic imagination informed by long duree historical perspectives and active dialogue between the life sciences and the medical and environmental humanities

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Nov
3
5:30 PM17:30

Royal College of Pathologists Book Club

RCPath’s very first Book Club event features the topical and timely book The Pandemic Century: A History of Global Contagion from the Spanish Flu to Covid-19. As part of National Pathology Week, this free online event will include a reading from author Mark Honigsbaum, followed by a lively discussion about key themes and ideas with a panel of experts. The event will take place via Zoom webinar and will be recorded. A video will be available on our YouTube channel after the event.

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Aug
29
5:00 PM17:00

Measles at the intersection of science and society

  • National Museum of Natural History (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join us as we look at measles outbreaks from a variety of perspectives on the disease, the vaccine, and the communities making decisions about their children’s health. Experts from historical, cultural and medical fields will weave together the science of measles with the science of human behavior in a program that gives a balanced account of the challenges and approaches to managing the disease.

Featured speakers:

  • Sharon Kaufman, Ph.D., medical anthropologist, Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine at the University of California San Francisco

  • Mark Honigsbaum, medical historian/journalist and author of "The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris," School of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Journalism, City University of London

  • Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin, vaccine researcher, Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins University

  • Dr. Diane E. Griffin, University Distinguished Professor, and a Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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Inevitable Epidemics: Death in the Air
Jun
29
2:00 PM14:00

Inevitable Epidemics: Death in the Air

In 1918 the Spanish influenza pandemic claimed the lives of up to 100 million people - as much as five percent of the world’s population.

Ever since, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease.Yet, despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles.

On the 100th anniversary of the flu’s arrival, join Mark Honigsbaum, author of The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris, and Joanna Vernan, a microbiologist with an interest in contagion literature.

Don’t miss this myth-busting discussion as we explore the limits of science against nature and ask the question: how long until the next epidemic?


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Join us for a talk by medical historian Mark Honigsbaum, at the launch of his new book The Pandemic Century.
Apr
3
5:30 PM17:30

Join us for a talk by medical historian Mark Honigsbaum, at the launch of his new book The Pandemic Century.

  • Royal College of Nursing Library and Heritage Centre (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu to the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 ‘parrot fever’ pandemic, through the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last one hundred years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms.

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