The first state-level medical history society to have a website. Our goal is to promote interest, research, and writing in medical history, and we are dedicated to the discussion and enjoyment of the history of medicine and allied fields.
On Tuesday April 20 at 7:00pm via Zoom, Dr. Alan Lippman will present, “Protest by Arson: The Burning of the ‘Quarantine.’”
In 1858, a mob of local citizens vandalized the New York Marine Hospital, a facility devoted to the care of newly-arrived immigrants who perhaps carried illnesses such as yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, and typhus. This action was precipitated by widespread fear of possible community spread of dangerous infections and was carried out after a series of more rational public health measures failed to succeed. Such violence, in this context, may have relevance to the social unrest in 2020 that has accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic.
MHSNJ Past-President Dr. Alan Lippman is a retired medical oncologist who practiced for 48 years in Essex County. He served as Deputy Senior Editor of New Jersey Medicine, the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and is currently a Member of the Editorial Board of MDAdvisor. He is also Book Review editor and Chair of the Publications Committee of the MHSNJ.
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