Stories and Heritage of Nursing in New York City

Posted on April 5, 2016 by nyamhistorymed

The Fellows Nursing Section at The New York Academy of Medicine and the Academy Library invite you to join us next Thursday, April 14, at 6:00 PM for an evening exploring the stories and heritage of nursing in New York City. Admission is free but advanced registration is required. Register online.

The evening’s presenters include:

Dr. Joanne Singleton, Professor at Pace University and author of White Beret: The Story of an Urban Nurse, her fictional account of life in a pediatric unit in a New York City hospital.

Lisa Mix, Head, Medical Center Archives, New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell Medical College.

Barbara Niss, Director, Archives & Records Management at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Arlene Shaner, Historical Collections Librarian, New York Academy of Medicine Library who will provide insights into the nursing heritage held in libraries and archives across the city.

Two tours of the Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room will be held following the evenings speakers. Tours are limited to 15 people each; email culturalevents@nyam.org to register. Other nursing-related materials will be on display in the main meeting room.

Call for Abstracts: Sixth Annual History of Medicine Night

Posted on November 10, 2015 by nyamhistorymed

RBR desk

The New York Academy of Medicine’s Section on the History of Medicine and Public Health invites you to submit abstracts for presentation at its upcoming Sixth Annual History of Medicine Night. This event will take place at the Academy, 1216 Fifth Avenue at the corner of 103^rd Street, on March 9, 2016 from 6:00 pm–7:30 pm.

We invite all those interested in presenting to submit an abstract concerning a historical subject relating to medicine.

Please note the following submission requirements:

Abstracts (not to exceed 250 words) must be submitted together with authors’ contact details, titles, and affiliations.
Abstracts must be submitted no later than Friday, January 15, 2016

Selected speakers will be asked to prepare a presentation of not more than 12 minutes, with an additional three minutes for questions/discussion. Papers selected for presentation will be determined by a panel of History of Medicine Section members and staff of The New York Academy of Medicine.

Submit abstracts electronically to Suhani Parikh at sparikh@nyam.org. Questions may be directed to Suhani via email or phone (212-419-3544).

Fifth Annual History of Medicine Night: Call for Papers

Posted on January 9, 2015 by nyamhistorymed

A wooden caduceus symbol shown in NYAM rare book reading room

A caduceus symbol donated to our rare book reading room

The New York Academy of Medicine’s Section on the History of Medicine and Public Health is pleased to announce its upcoming Fifth Annual History of Medicine Night, to be held on March 11, 2015 from 6:00–7:30 pm. The event will take place at the Academy, located at 1216 Fifth Avenue at the corner of 103^rd Street.

We are inviting all those interested in presenting to submit an abstract concerning a historical subject relating to medicine.

Please note the following submission requirements:

Abstracts (not to exceed 250 words) should be submitted together with authors’ contact details and affiliations.
Abstracts must be submitted no later than January 30, 2015

Selected speakers will be asked to prepare a presentation of no more than 12 minutes, with an additional 3 minutes for questions/discussion. Papers selected for presentation will be determined by a panel of History of Medicine Section members and staff of The New York Academy of Medicine.

Abstracts should be submitted electronically to Suhani Parikh at sparikh@nyam.org. Questions may be directed to Suhani via email or phone (212-419-3544).

Author’s Night – The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience

Posted on March 17, 2014 by nyamhistorymed

Please join us on Wednesday, March 19 at 6 pm to hear NYAM Fellow Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, MS, MPH, discuss his latest book, The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience. The book has just been named a finalist for a 2014 Lamda Literary Award in the biography/memoir category. To RSVP, e-mail Donna Fingerhut.

Dr. Halkitis had several motivations for writing this book, as he explains:

First, I wanted to create a historical document of the unique experiences that these men—the men of the AIDS Generation—lived through—people who lived through the darkest moments of the epidemic in the first two decades of AIDS. Second, I wanted to demonstrate the resilience of my generation of gay men and move away from research that is based on deficit models that are too often evident in the literature. In fact, somehow the men of the AIDS Generation survived and thrived. It would be simple to say it was pure luck that they remained healthy long enough for the development of antiviral therapies. But I believe what I learned from these stories is that there is something greater at work here. These men were able to attend and care for the whole selves—social, biological, and emotional selves—which empowered them to get through to 1996, the turning point of the epidemic, and which is demonstrative of resilience and not deficit. Third, the way that the men of the AIDS Generation managed the disease helps to inform how we can work with all people who are living with HIV and other people living with challenging chronic diseases.

Dr. Halkitis is professor of applied psychology and public health and population health (Steinhardt School and Langone School of Medicine), director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies, and associate dean for academic affairs (Global Institute of Public Health) at New York University. He is also an affiliate of NYU’s Center for AIDS Research and Center for Drug Use and HIV Research. Dr. Halkitis has conducted HIV behavior research for the last 20 years, examining HIV in relation to other health problems.

Mirroring Medicine: Of Mice and Men

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Allison Piazza

Medal issued to commemorate Louis Pasteur’s 70th birthday, 1892.

Medals, amulets, badges and prizes play many roles, whether acknowledging significant figures in their fields, commemorating events, or giving insights into beliefs about health. Over 275 medical-themed items from the collection of Dr. Ira Rezak, currently on display at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at the Columbia University Medical Center, provide a rich and varied exploration of these roles. The objects in the exhibit range from a 70th birthday medal for Louis Pasteur (1892) to a 16th century German amulet used to ward off the bubonic plague, a Canadian medal from 1994 celebrating the role of white mice in medical science, and the New York Academy of Medicine medal by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, among many other medals representing medicine in New York.

Round medal with female figure, for New York Academy of Medicine.

Medal of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1928, by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth.

The exhibition, Mirroring Medicine, is drawn from Dr. Rezak’s medal collection, formed over 50 years, and one of the most important in private hands. Dr. Rezak is a NYAM Fellow and Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The exhibition is on view until January 11, 2013 and is open from 7am to 9pm on Lower Level 2 of the Columbia University Medical Center’s Hammer Health Sciences Center. Individuals without Columbia University or New York-Presbyterian Hospital identification should make arrangements to visit the show by emailing hslarchives@columbia.edu.

The Changing Face of Aging Across America

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Allison Piazza

By Arlene Shaner, Acting Curator and Reference Librarian for Historical Collections

A photography exhibit by NYAM Fellow Jeffrey M. Levine, M.D., is on display through September 21, 2012 at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South). The exhibit, The Changing Face of Aging Across America, is the first stop in a year-long tour of these images, which will be shown in six teaching hospitals around the country.

3 women carrying a banner saying "Granny Peace Brigade"

Granny Peace Brigade in Times Square. Photo: Jeffrey M. Levine, M.D.

Dr. Levine is a gerontologist and wound care specialist with a longstanding interest in photography. He has studied at the Art Students League, the International Center for Photography and the School of Visual Arts. For the past two decades he has been documenting the experience of aging in America through photographs that celebrate the activities and communities of aging individuals, but also remind us of the many challenges faced by this population, our largest growing demographic.

Group of runners running in the Over 70 Race

Runners in the Over 70 Race on Fifth Avenue. Photo: Jeffrey M. Levine, M.D.

An earlier exhibit of Dr. Levine’s photographs, Aging Through a Physician’s Lens, was displayed in the Presidents Gallery at NYAM in 2009.

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