HMS Public Health Week: History of Public Health and Epidemiology Talk

Jim Downs, PhD presents "Before John Snow: How Slavery and Colonialism Led to the Development of Public Health" - a public talk about the history of public health and epidemiology. We often hear and read that public health and epidemiology was due to John Snow, cholera, and that infamous Broadstreet Pump Handle. Historian of Medicine Jim Downs uncovers longer, and geographically wider history: the untold ways that slavery, imperialism, and war created built environments—ships, plantations, and battlefields—that enabled physicians to study the spread of infectious disease. Jim Downs is the Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Studies and History at Gettysburg College. Join us for this event on Wednesday, April 3rd at 4:30pm in STEPS 101 & on zoom, as well as the other events HMS is hosting this week for Public Health Week!