Category: Uncategorized

William Worrall Mayo (WW Mayo), was born in England in 1819, studied chemistry and migrated to United States in 1845. He first worked as a pharmacist in New York, and then as a tailor in Indiana, before turning to medicine in 1850s. Initially trained at Indiana, and then at Missouri, WW Mayo graduated in medicine… Continue reading Mayo clinic: The first modern group practice

All medical students are taught Apgar score, a 10-point scale to grade a just-born as healthy or at risk. This has made Virginia Apgar quite immortal. She however was neither a pediatrician (a doctor for children) or an obstetrician (a doctor who delivers). Rather, she initially trained as a surgeon, and accepted to be an… Continue reading Virginia Apgar, an accidental anesthetist

Medical training is long. Across the globe, students enter the medical school for an initial generic training. When medical students complete this initial 4-5 years of training, they become doctors. However, doctors are required to obtain more training. This additional training is in form of internship, and specialty specific residency. The residency is a staged… Continue reading William Osler and origin of residency in medical training

Around 1950s Mass miniature radiography or MMR was a cornerstone of public health screening for Tuberculosis. It was a mobile X-ray unit that roamed villages, towns and cities, photographing the chests of millions of men women and children. It was a new technology, that was fast, scalable, and visually compelling. Yet by 1980s, MMR programs… Continue reading The Rise and fall of Mass Miniature Radiography (MMR)

In December of 1809, Ephraim McDowell performed an abdominal surgery, and successfully removed a large ovarian tumor. This was many decades before Anesthesia was invented, and at a time when making an incision to cut open abdomen, was a medical no-no. Further, McDowell performed this surgery at Danville, Kentucky. At that time, it was the… Continue reading McDowell performs first successful abdominal surgery: accolades and brickbats

Throughout history, dogs have stood by humans as hunters, herders, guardians, and loyal companions. But perhaps one of their most noble and transformative roles is that of the guide dog—a trained companion that helps people with visual impairments navigate the world with confidence and independence. Let’s take a closer look at the history, evolution, and… Continue reading Dog guides as friends for the visually challenged

Malpighi and discovery of capillaries Marcello Malpighi, was born in Italy in the year 1628. It was the same year, when an English Physician William Harvey had discovered circulation of blood. Blood flows out from heart through the arteries, Harvey discovered and is returned back to it by veins. What connects arteries and veins was… Continue reading Malpighi and beyond: Italian legacy with a microscope

It is extremely rare for a medical doctor to eventually become a Professor of physics. Further, he not only invented opthalmoscope – an instrument we use to look inside an eye, but also unravelled mysteries of sound, principles of mathematics, as well as that of human thought. This person is Hermann Helmholtz, who initially trained as… Continue reading Helmholtz made it possible to look inside the eye

Early in 2020, Australia Post issued a set of four postage stamps on Medical Innovations. These stamps are bright and attractive, and each of these innovations were disruptive for the existing practices. Lets explore these, from the most recent to the more established. Spray on Skin Cells Fiona Wood is the first woman plastic surgeon… Continue reading Four medical innovations with an Australian link

Health in stamps, this blog post site turns three today. It was 10th July 2022, when the site was live with its first post. In fact it was borne out of sheer boredom in the preceding months. I had binge-watched one show after another on OTT platforms, swiped one reel after another on instagram, and… Continue reading Health in Stamps was born today, three years ago