Lecture Series Explores Relationship Between Culture and Medicine

How did the industrial revolution lead to measuring vital signs in the doctor's office?  What is the relationship between the telephone and modern medical office buildings?  These are among the many curiosities Dr. Ralph Arcari is exploring in his history of medicine lecture series at UConn Health Center. 

The connections between medicine and society are the themes of these lectures, which Arcari has been organizing for decades. 

"What I am trying to do is break down the idea that medicine is in the ivory tower," Arcari said. "There is another side of medicine that you have to get to the people."

The retired UConn professor organizes and coordinates the History of Medicine lecture series, which takes place the third Tuesday of the month, from October through April every year. He hopes his efforts will help the community see that medical education at UConn is about the people; the focus should be the individual as a whole and the story they have to tell, rather than strictly the patient and the disease. 

"We aren't just learning how to pull teeth or sew sutures," he said.

Arcari began his career in library science, but ultimately found interest in the medical humanities. When he arrived at UConn, not a single course was offered on the history of medicine. He was surprised that, as an established medical school, UConn had no precedent for educating students on the history of the profession. So he went about creating a class on the history of medicine and later the lecture series.

Ralph isn't interested in lecturing on the next biomedical breakthrough or inviting leading researchers to talk about the surgical device they just invented. 

"I want to put medicine in the context of the society we are in," Arcari said. "How [the device] is going to change society, or how it will impact health care in the long run" is more along the lines of what you can expect at these lectures.

With topics ranging from psychology to bioethics, Arcari's lecture series illustrates how medicine permeates all aspects of our culture. During this year's lecture series, Arcari hopes to show the public how physicians in training should be encouraged to view the patient. 

Though Arcari is determined to get the word out, sometimes determination is not enough. At some lectures only a few listeners trickle in to hear his message.

If you are interested in attending and participating in Dr. Arcari's lecture series, they are located in the Low Learning Center at the Farmington campus.  All lectures are at 7pm; here is what remains of the 2010-2011 schedule:

Dec. 14: "Nineteenth century U.S. writers and the medical expose," featuring Sharon Harris, PhD of the UConn Humanities Institute.

Jan. 18: "Therapeutic experience and expectations in the early U.S. republic," featuring Catherine L. Thompson, PhD of UConn's History Department

Feb. 15: "The hospitalist program at Hartford hospital," featuring April Goller, DO from Hartford Hospital

March 15: "Civil War medicine: Myths, Maggots, Mini Balls, Gangrene and Glory," featuring Carolyn Ivanoff of the Civil War Preservation Trust

April 14: "Disease and Environmental thinking in the early colonies," featuring Karen Kupperman, PhD from New York University department of History