Alan BlumTuscaloosa, Alabama, United StatesGeorge DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States In this brief editorial we have collaborated to pay homage to a distinguished man of the last century whom we have both known personally. Samuel Vaisrub, MD, was a prolific editorial writer and the author of a delightful and erudite book, Medicine’s Metaphors: Messages & Menaces.1 […] The post Samuel Vaisrub: An unforgettable editor first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece We are halfway through Advent and looking forward to Christmas. As I am finishing some late-night computer work and seriously thinking about sleep, the cellphone goes off. I recognize the voice of a man I saw recently. His problem is trouble with breathing, that vital function whose perceived difficulty flashes warning signals […] The post A midnight call first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Though an obscure figure today, for many years Fra Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623) loomed large in the ecclesiastical, scientific, and political arenas of Europe. Macaulay praised him as his “favorite modern historian,”1 Boswell called him a genius, and Samuel Johnson considered translating him to the English-speaking world. A venerable polymath, he […] The post Paolo Sarpi: Venetian hero, Roman heretic first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

JMS PearceHull, England The 21st of December 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Dr James Parkinson (1755–1824), author of An Essay on the Shaking Palsy. He was buried in St. Leonard’s church where a marble plaque elegantly summarising his life and work was unveiled in September 1955. Further reading JMS PEARCE is […] The post In memoriam: James Parkinson first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Paul Edward Farmer was an American medical pioneer anthropologist, academician, and physician. He co-founded and was chief strategist of Partners in Health (PIH), an international nonprofit organization that since 1987 has provided health care services, undertaken research, and advocacy on behalf of the poor and sick. Dr. Farmer grew up in Alabama during much of […] The post Paul Farmer, MD (1959–2022) first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Pietro Grimani was one the most cultured of the 120 Doges who served as chief magistrates and leaders of the city and republic of Venice for more than one thousand years. Born into an ancient aristocratic family that had held essential positions in Venetian society, he had studied the classics as a young man, including […] The post Pietro Grimani: Venetian Doge and Fellow of the Royal Society (1667–1752) first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Some years ago a tourist shown the shopping Galleria in Milan asked the guide why the ceiling paintings illustrating the world’s continents did not include Australia. The guide explained that Australia had yet to be invented. She was clearly misinformed in that the British had established the penal colony at Botany Bay some one hundred […] The post Reminiscences of a medical student in Australia first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Carol Zapata-WhelanFresno, California, United States “… I guess [the grass] is the handkerchief of the Lord,A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?”—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass I sank down in a padded chair to wait for my routine bone […] The post Whose name is writ in water: Life, serendipity, and fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Elizabeth SteinhartJMS PearceHull, England We share a fascination for the varied activities, relics, and quirky names of eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries’ gentlemen’s clubs and societies. One of us (ES) recently found the blue plaque of the Turk’s Head Literary Club above a Chinese supermarket in London’s Soho. Distinguished literati, physicians, and scientists were members of such […] The post The Turk’s Head Literary Club first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more

Patrick FiddesAustralia The art consists in three things—the disease, the patient, and the physician. The physician is the servant of the art.1 Among the 412 aphorisms in Francis Adam’s Genuine Works Of Hippocrates2 are three that employ the term “Art.” Two have achieved popular acclaim while the third, the “Art of Medicine,” has received fewer […] The post The Art of Medicine is the essence of medical professionalism first appeared on Hektoen International ..read more