Budapest nephrology school - 30 years of history - from modest start to an international success: systematic summary of the 27th BNS held between 28th August and 2nd of September 2023

Budapest Nephrology School (BNS) could have celebrated its 30th event if it had not been interrupted by COVID pandemic for a few years. Yet, the organization of 27th BNS in August 2023 resumed its successful and traditional activities at Semmelweis University, in the beautiful central European city of Budapest. In over two decades, BNS has faithfully adapted to the changes and developments of medical science and clinical nephrology, the fact which has kept it unique and attractive for nephrologists from across the globe. With such a long history and representing the top international professors of nephrology, BNS has proved to be a successful one-week, in-person refreshing course which has attracted over 1600 medical doctors from more than 60 countries. It has well served as an academic meeting point suitable for networking and exchange of up-to-date knowledge presented by the best international experts in nephrology. The dedication and focus of these experts on education, research and patient care represent the very concept of translational medicine. The invaluable experience of the past 27 years has set the standards for BNS to contribute to the evolution of translational nephrology in Europe in the next decade.

A Journey of Innovation: 40 years of Pioneering Medical Education at the Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan

This article presents an overview of Aga Khan University's (AKU) pioneering medical education initiatives over the past 40 years, exploring its impact on healthcare in the region and its commitment to advancing medical education and research in the developing world. Established in 1983 as the first private university in Pakistan, AKU has evolved into a global institution with a focus on improving healthcare standards and addressing healthcare needs in the developing world. The article also discusses the undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programs at AKU Medical College, Pakistan, highlighting their unique features and pioneering approaches to medical education. The institution's journey highlights its ability to adapt to the evolving healthcare landscape while maintaining a focus on quality and excellence, offering a model for other institutions striving to meet healthcare needs in low- and middle-income countries.

Carnegie and Rockefeller's Philanthropic Legacy: Exclusion of African Americans From Medicine

In the first 3 decades of the 20th century, John D. Rockefeller Sr. and Andrew Carnegie used their philanthropy to support 2 main mechanisms that functioned to exclude African American doctors from medical education and the medical profession. First, Carnegie funded the Flexner report, recommending reforms to medical education including the closure of most Black medical schools. Next, Rockefeller's General Education Board (GEB) funded restructures to medical education without equal support to ensure Black medical schools could keep up with changing standards. For every dollar the GEB donated to Black medical schools between 1902 and 1919, it donated $123 to White schools. During that period, for every dollar the GEB donated to White medical schools per White resident, it donated about $0.07 to Black schools per African American resident. Next, Rockefeller's philanthropy supported a system of school education that underprepared African American candidates to meet the requirements needed to enter medicine. For African American children, the GEB supported a kind of schooling termed industrial education, which emphasized manual training (e.g., skills related to agricultural science and efficiency). In 1933, industrial education schools were located in 57% of all Southern counties, and two-thirds of African Americans who attended primary and secondary school received an education that followed the industrial education curriculum. Industrial education underprepared candidates for applying to medical school, completing a medical school curriculum, and passing a medical board examination. This article examines how these 2 mechanisms had lasting and harmful effects on the underrepresentation of African American doctors in the medical workforce. These insights provide a broad and collective understanding of the early role of philanthropy in excluding African Americans from the medical profession, which is a crucial first step toward developing interventions to help redress racial discrepancies in the medical profession that persist today.

[Granting of venia legendi as an indicator of specialization : Victor von Ivánchich de Margita (1812-1892) "Lecturer for surgery of the urogenital organs" in Vienna in 1851]

Alongside Paris, Vienna was one of the early centers of specialization and professionalization in medicine and urology in the 19th century. Especially the 2nd Vienna Medical School (Erna Lesky) with its main representatives Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (in Czech: Karel Rokytanský; 1804-1878) and Joseph Ritter von Škoda (1895-1881) was able to create the perfect scientific environment for young students to become acquainted with new fields of research often in an interdisciplinary setting, e.g., chemistry, microscopy or pathology in combination with clinical departments like surgery. We analyze the process of habilitation using the example of a urologist to outline this process within the history of science.

[Tokyo Bones Find and human experiments by the army medical school in Tokyo]

More than 100 human bones, known as the Tokyo Human Bones, were found at the previous site of the Army Medical School in Tokyo, Japan, on July 22, 1989. They were located on the northern side of the previous location of the epidemic prevention research unit of the Army Medical School, with the discovery drawing a great deal of international attention. It was suggested that these bones might be from the victims of human experiments during World War II. It was found, in 1991, by Professor Sakura Shuo in Sapporo University, that the time and location of the burial of these bones was consistent with the existence of the Army Military Medical School. Most of these bones were Chinese, Korean and Mongolian races, and they were indeed closely related to the war. At the time they had not been found to be directly related to the human experiments of the Army Medical School, but the evidence left behind on the bones did not indicate gunshot or other war wounds, but evidence of medical experiments. This incident was known as the "Tokyo Bone Incident". Based on the research data on the Tokyo Human Bones internationally in the past 30 years, in particular, the testimony from the staff of the previous Army Medical School in Tokyo and members of the previous Army Medical School in Harbin (Unit 731), it can be concluded that some relationship exists between the Tokyo Human Bones and human experiments. This suggested that the nature of research related to these human bones conducted by the Army Medical School in Tokyo was consistent with those conducted at the Army Medical School in Harbin (Unit 731).

[The westward migration of Tongji Medical College during the Anti-Japanese War]

Tongji Medical College began its "education Long March" after the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, with six westward migrations across almost 10,000 kilometers over eight years. It first moved to the city of Shanghai because Tongji Medical College had to rent space in Shanghai, then moved to Jinhua in Zhejiang Province soon afterwards. After that it migrated to Ganzhou and Jian in Jiangxi Province, then He County in Guangxi Province and Kunming in Yunnan Province, ultimately locating in Li Village in Sichuan Province. Tongji Medical College was operated by Chinese and implemented high-level administration and teaching under the difficult conditions during the Anti-Japanese War. As a result, Tongji Medical College made advances in the medical field, such those by Professor Wu Mengchao. It also made advancements in research and treatment, such as identifying pathogenesis of a local epidemic and offering some treatment methods, and popularised medical knowledge for local people by exhibitions and news paper columns. It also established the Number One and the Number Five UMC Trauma Centre, participating in battlefield treatment. The German teachers of Tongji Medical College, who did not move to the west, established a German Medical School in Shanghai. Tongji Medical College returned back to Shanghai, incorporating the German Medical School in Shanghai after the Anti-Japanese War.

The life and legacy of William Keiller (1861-1931), anatomist, artist and curator

After graduating in medicine from the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine, William Keiller trained in obstetrics and became anatomy lecturer at the Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women, where he successfully devised and developed an anatomical curriculum. In 1891, Keiller was appointed as the Professor of anatomy at the state medical department of the University of Texas, at the age of 30. He built up a nationally recognised anatomy department, museum and teaching curriculum informed by his experience in Edinburgh. Keiller left the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston a rich legacy, including anatomical specimens and drawings.

Gilbert Kymer: Rector of the first conjoint medical college

Dr Gilbert Kymer (d. 1463) was a leading royal physician, scholar, cleric and university administrator of the first half of the 15th century. He was physician to Henry V & VI, and principally to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, for whom he wrote an extensive Dietarium. He collected medical books and facilitated their translation, and helped to set up Duke Humfrey's library at Oxford. He became Dean of Salisbury, and for 11 years was Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Ab-10%υ¯ Mans .-10%υ¯r ῌasan Qamar: Promoter of the Medical School of Rāz (Rhazes)

The medical history of Iran and Islam is marked by the presence of renowned physicians, some of whom are not well known outside Iran. Abυ¯ Man⋅υ¯r ῌasan ibn Nυ¯ḥ Qamarī Bukhārā 'ī was an Iranian physician living in the fourth century AH (10th century CE). The scientific works of this sage indicate his skill and expertise in medical science. He was a man of such scientific stature that the renowned Iranian philosopher and physician, Avicenna, use may have been one of his disciples. Qamarī may be credited as one of the promoters of the medical school of Muḥammad Ibn Zakarīyyā Rāzī. Some of his works, including Al-Tanwīr Fī 'Isṭilāḥāt Al-Ṭibbīyyah and Al-Ghinā and Al-Munā are still extant. In this paper, his scientific life and works, based on primary sources, have been studied in order to shed light on his role in formation of the Muslim Medical School.

Publicity, politics, and professoriate in fin-de-siècle Vienna: The misconduct of the embryologist Samuel Leopold Schenk

This essay uses the case of the fin-de-siècle Vienna embryologist Samuel Leopold Schenk to analyze the factors at play in allegations of misconduct. In 1898, Schenk published a book titled Theorie Schenk. Einfluss auf das Geschlechtsverhältnis (Schenk's theory. Influence on the sex ratio). The book argued that, by changing their diet, women trying to conceive could influence egg maturation and consequently select the sex of their offspring. This cross between a scientific monograph and a popular advice book received enormous publicity but also spurred first the Vienna Medical Association and then the Senate of the University of Vienna to accuse Schenk of poor science, self-advertisement, quack medical practice, and wrong publisher choice. Formal proceedings against Schenk ended in 1900 with the unusually harsh punishment of early retirement. Schenk died two years later. I examine the elements of the case, from the science of sex determination and selection, to the growth of print media and advertising within the changing demographic and political landscape of Vienna. I argue that the influence of the public, via the growing media, upon science was the main driver of the case against Schenk, but also that the case would have had a more limited impact were it not for the volatile political moment rife with anti-Semitism, nationalism, and xenophobia. I draw the attention to the importance of setting cases of misconduct in the broader political history and against the key social concerns of the moment.

Histology and Embryology Education in China: The Current Situation and Changes Over the Past 20 Years

In mainland China, histology and embryology (HE) are taught in one course as an essential component of medical curricula. The effectiveness of HE courses directly affects the quality of medical students. To determine the present situation and changes in HE teaching in Chinese medical schools, a nationwide survey was conducted among the HE departmental leaders. In total, 66 responses were included in the study, representing prominent Chinese mainland medical schools. The results revealed that most HE teachers have medical educational backgrounds; an increasing number of teaching staff with PhDs have joined the teaching staffs. A range of 71 to 90 HE curriculum contact hours is predominant. The ratio of theory to practice for HE contact hours is 1:1 at half of the surveyed medical schools. The numbers of students in each laboratory are less than 30 and from 31 to 60 at 23 and 36 medical schools, respectively. Virtual microscopy is employed in 40% of the surveyed medical schools. Didactic teaching is the most common strategy, although new teaching approaches are being employed gradually. During the past 20 years, both the total number of HE teachers and the number of HE teachers with medical educational backgrounds have been reduced in at least half of the surveyed schools. A total of 83.33% of the surveyed schools have reduced their HE contact hours. Almost half of the Chinese medical schools remained unchanged in both their ratio of theory to practice and the number of students in each laboratory. The data derived from this study help to understand the development of the HE discipline at Chinese medical schools.

Curriculum Changes and Trends 2010-2020: A Focused National Review Using the AAMC Curriculum Inventory and the LCME Annual Medical School Questionnaire Part II

Medical school curricula have evolved from 2010 to 2020. Numerous pressures and influences affect medical school curricula, including those from external sources, academic medical institutions, clinical teaching faculty, and undergraduate medical students. Using data from the AAMC Curriculum Inventory and the LCME Annual Medical School Questionnaire Part II, the nature of curriculum change is illuminated. Most medical schools are undertaking curriculum change, both in small cycles of continuous quality improvement and through significant change to curricular structure and content. Four topic areas are explored: cost consciousness, guns and firearms, nutrition, and opioids and addiction medicine. The authors examine how these topic areas are taught and assessed, where in the curriculum they are located, and how much time is dedicated to them in relation to the curriculum as a whole. When examining instructional methods overall, notable findings include (1) the decrease of lecture, although lecture remains the most used instructional method, (2) the increase of collaborative instructional methods, (3) the decrease of laboratory, and (4) the prevalence of clinical instructional methods in academic levels 3 and 4. Regarding assessment methods overall, notable findings include (1) the recent change of the USMLE Step 1 examination to a pass/fail reporting system, (2) a modest increase in narrative assessment, (3) the decline of practical labs, and (4) the predominance of institutionally developed written/computer-based examinations and participation. Among instructional and assessment methods, the most used methods tend to cluster by academic level. It is critical that faculty development evolves alongside curricula. Continued diversity in the use of instructional and assessment methods is necessary to adequately prepare tomorrow's physicians. Future research into the life cycle of a curriculum, as well optional curriculum content, is warranted.

Ibn Mandevaih Isfahani (949-983(?) AD), a physician from Isfahan's medical school

There have arisen a number of prominent Iranian-Islamic physicians throughout the history of the fertile medicine landscape of Iran, some of whom are not very well known. Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman Mandevaih Isfahani (949-983(?) AD) was a great medical figure with scientific activities in the Hospital of Isfahan and al-Adudi Hospital of Baghdad in the golden age of Iranian-Islamic history, culture, and civilization during the reign of the Buyid dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate. He was also a prominent physician during the reign of Adud al-Dawla Deylami (949-983 AD). This present research has as its objectives the studying of the scientific life of ibn Mandevaih Isfahani and his works in this field. The works of this scientist and scholar reflect his skill and expertise in literature, philosophy, medicine, and medicine-related fields including ophthalmology and pharmacology.

Founding Physicians of the Medical College of Georgia and Their Connections to Crawford Long and the First Surgical Anesthetic

Milton Antony (1789-1839), an apprenticed trained physician, began educating medical apprentices in 1826 and helped to establish the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) in 1829. Antony recruited additional faculty, Louis Dugas (anatomy and physiology), and Paul Eve (surgery), and together they worked to promote the dissemination of new medical knowledge and enhance and reform medical education. As a result of their efforts, the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal (SMSJ) was established in 1836. The SMSJ became the most successful and widely read regional medical journal. Unfortunately, upon the death of Milton Antony because of the Augusta yellow fever epidemic, the SMSJ ceased publication in 1839. Paul Eve then became Dean of MCG and revived the SMSJ in 1844. Crawford Long (1815-1878) administered ether anesthesia for surgical removal of a neck tumor to James Venable in 1842. For several possible reasons, he did not publish his experience with ether until after Morton's demonstration of ether in Boston in 1846. Crawford Long did meet with Paul Eve, in Augusta at MCG, and was encouraged to publish his experiences with ether in the revived SMSJ, which he did in 1849. It is quite possible that if Milton Antony had lived, and the SMSJ had been continuously published, that Crawford Long may have published his use of ether well in advance of Morton's ether demonstration in 1846. Had that occurred, the great controversy during the mid-nineteenth century over who first used ether for surgical anesthesia would not have existed, and Crawford Long would have received appropriate credit during his lifetime.

Scientific Representations at the UPR School of Tropical Medicine. IV: Special Technical Studies

The essay examines the scientific representations that unfolded and evolved at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the fourth in a historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution and it portrays the diagrammatic representations of special technical research aspects and studies (i.e., personnel, epidemiology, methodology, animal studies, biology, field studies, treatment and immunology, and chemotherapy agents). The essay focuses on the emerged scientific representations and on the nature and evolution of sciences at the School, and has been divided into four sections: a) images of science, b) evolution during the first two eras, c) the third and last era unfolding, and d) special technical studies. In this paper the scientific representations have been brought about mainly through the analyses of research publications in external and local venues. The analysis of the STM's scientific evolution has been organized in three distinct historical stages: 1926-31, 1932-40, and 1941-49. These representations open an exploration pathway for a better understanding of the intricate interrelationships between the techné and the episteme horizons of tropical medical science in Puerto Rico.

Survey of Gross Anatomy Education in China: The Past and the Present

Medical education in mainland China has undergone massive expansion and reforms in the past decades. A nation-wide survey of the five-year clinical medicine programs aimed to examine the course hours, pedagogies, learning resources and teaching staff of anatomy both at present and over the past three decades (1990-1999, 2000-2009, and 2010-2018). The directors or senior teachers from 90 out of the 130 five-year clinical medicine programs were invited to fill out a factual questionnaire by email. Ultimately, sixty-five completed questionnaires were received from 65 different schools. It was found that the total number of gross anatomy course hours has decreased by 11% in the past 30 years and that systematic and regional anatomy have been increasingly taught separately among the surveyed medical schools. Problem-based learning has been adopted in thirty-five (54%) of the surveyed schools, and team-based learning is used in ten (15%) of the surveyed schools. The surveyed schools reported receiving more donated cadavers in recent years, with the average number increasing from 20.67 ± 20.29 in 2000-2009 to 36.10 ± 47.26 in 2010-2018. However, this has not resulted in a decrease in the number of students who needed to share one cadaver (11.85 ± 5.03 in 1990-1999 to 14.22 ± 5.0 in 2010-2018). A decreasing trend regarding the teacher-student ratio (1:25.5 in 2000-2009 to 1:33.2 in 2010-2018) was also reported. The survey demonstrated the historical changes in gross anatomy education in China over the past thirty years.

Desegregating Medicine: Edith Irby Jones, MD, Broke Barriers in All-White Medical Schools in the South

Houston internist Edith Irby Jones, MD, broke barriers in all-white medical schools in the South and in her hometown of Houston.

For the Benefit of Students: Memory and Anatomical Learning at Bologna in the Fourteenth to Early Sixteenth Centuries

The anatomical textbook in the late Middle Ages was one part of a greater pedagogical process that involved students' seeing, hearing, reading, and eventually knowing information about the human body. By examining the role of the anatomical textbook and accompanying bodily images in anatomical learning, this article illuminates the complexity and self-consciousness of anatomical education in the medieval university, as professors focused on ways to enhance student memory of the material. Traditionally, the history of anatomy has been heavily influenced by the anatomical Renaissance of the late-sixteenth century, highlighting a focus on innovative medical knowledge and the scientific method. However, if we engage a pedagogical lens when looking at these medieval authors, it becomes quickly obvious that the whole point of university medicine was not to explore unknown boundaries and discover new ideas of medicine, but rather to communicate the current and established body of knowledge to those not familiar with it.

Scientific Representations at the UPR School of Tropical Medicine. III: The Evolution of Science, the Last Era (1941-1949)

The essay examines the scientific representations that unfolded and evolved at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). It focuses on the emerged scientific representations and on the nature and evolution of sciences at the School, and has been divided into four sections: images of science, evolution during the first two eras (1926-31 and 1932-40), the unfolding last era (1941-49), and special technical studies. This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the third in this historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution, and portrays the events and processes of the last scientific era. It analyzes the faculty's principal investigations, development of research programs, and concomitant scientific productivity and research outcomes. The scientific representations have been brought forth through the analyses of different sources: academic and research reports, and publications in external and local venues. The analysis of the STM's scientific evolution has been organized in three distinct chronological stages, while also considering other time evolving models (e.g., historical moments). The main themes of the collection are the scientific images and knowledge exemplars: the emergence of a tradition. An analytical framework of research schemas, exemplars of knowledge, and epistemes proved useful and constructive. These studies on the history of science allow for the postulation of an 'enriched thesis' on the different kinds of paradigmatic diseases of tropical medicine in Puerto Rico during the 20th Century, and enable further substantiation of the tropical obliviousness thesis.

Headaches in the medieval Medical School of Salerno

PREMISE

Headaches are a serious public health concern of our days, affecting about 50% of the world's adult population. However, such a plague is not limited to the modern era, since ancient archaeological, written, religious and cultural evidences testify to countless attempts to face such disorders from medical, neurosurgical, psychological and sociological perspectives.

BACKGROUND

Substantially, the Hippocratic and Galenic theories about headache physiopathology remained predominant up to the 17th century, when the vascular theory of migraine was introduced by Thomas Willis and then evolved into the actual neurovascular hypothesis. The medieval Medical School of Salerno, in southern Italy, where the Greco-Roman medical doctrine was deeply affected by the medio-oriental influence, gave particular attention to both prevention and treatment of headaches.

CONCLUSION

The texts of the School, a milestone in the literature of medicine, translated into different languages and widespread throughout Europe for centuries, provide numerous useful recipes and ingredients with an actually proven pharmacological efficacy.

The (Dis)assembling of Form: Revealing the Ideas Built Into Manchester's Medical School

This paper addresses a gap in our understanding of medical history - the architecture of medical schools - and demonstrates the ways in which architectural form can be used to better understand medical epistemology and pedagogy. It examines an instructive case study - the late-nineteenth-century medical school buildings in Manchester - and examines the concepts that were drawn together and expressed in the buildings. Through its exploration, the paper argues first, that medical schools and spaces for medical education should be given greater consideration as a significant category in the history of medical buildings. Second, that buildings such as its case study are an important source of evidence and means to understand the role of medicine in society and the ideas with which its contemporary practitioners and educators were concerned. Third, the paper argues that, to make best use of buildings as sources, we should view them as agents which have assembled divergent ideas and incorporated them into the built form. In this way, such buildings have woven into them an inventory of ideas which can be untangled using designs and physical evidence.

[Unmasking impostors: Professional physicians and their struggle against fake doctors in Peru]

The characterization of non-professional healers as "quacks" or "impostors" has influenced much of how such actors have been perceived by public opinion and in academic research. As a result of this, a divide has emerged between professional physicians, on the one hand, and those who acquired their knowledge in a traditional and non-academic way, on the other. This work questions the alleged divide between these two groups in the health field in order to offer a more complex and richer picture of local practices in Peru. Based mainly on correspondence from the Faculty of Medicine in Lima and newspaper ads, we reconstructed the attempts made by medical authorities to contain and exclude healers of Asian, European, or local backgrounds, many of which failed. For this reason, we studied two specific devices designed to legitimate and monitor physicians trained professionally: degrees or diplomas and lists of graduates, both of which are predecessors to our current identification cards and databases.

[The dawn of Parma's nefrological school as told by one of its students]

This paper, written by Professor Rosario Maiorca, describes the everyday professional life in the institutes of Clinica Medica and subsequently of Patologia Medica at Parma University in the second half of the fifties and in the first years of the sixties of the past century. Those institutes and that period, which have been very important for the birth of Nephrology in Italy, have already been described, from the historical standpoint, in an Italian monograph on the history of our specialty for the period 1957-2007. The present paper adds to that chapter an insight of "real life", with a lively description of the wide and passionate clinical and scientific activities of the young doctors in training and of the personality, greatly stimulating and altruistic, of their "Masters".

Thessaly and medicine from ancient Greek mythology to contemporary times: a perpetual relationship

The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview of the connection between Thessaly and the development of medicine from ancient Greek mythology to contemporary times. From Chiron to Asclepius, from Asclepius to Hippocrates, and from Hippocrates to the true Hippocratic epidemiologist Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a plethora of myths and facts indicate the strong and perpetual alignment between Thessaly and the science of medicine.

Scientific Representations at the UPR School of Tropical Medicine. II: The Evolution of Science, the First Two Eras (1926-31, 1932-1940)

The essay examines the scientific representations that unfolded and manifested at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). It focuses on the emerged scientific representations and on the kind of science practiced at the School, and has been divided into four sections: images of science, evolution during the first two eras (1926-31 and 1932-40), the unfolding third and last era (1941-49), and special technical studies. This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the second in this historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution, and portrays the events and processes of the first two scientific eras. It reviews the faculty's principal investigations, development of research programs, and concomitant scientific productivity and research outcomes. The following historical sources were considered: academic and research reports, and publications in external and local venues. On findings, bacteriological investigations and studies on mycology and dermatological fungal infections characterized research during the first era. Parasitology became the hegemonic science of tropical medicine during the second scientific era, in conjunction with important studies on nutrition and streptococcal bacteriological infections. Variations of an earlier tropical medicine discourse of 'abundance of material for study' were: the socioeconomic toll of tropical diseases and a biopower exertion of induced recruitment of medical bodies. And public health field-community studies became a critical research approach at-end of periods. The evolution of science in the last and third era will be the main subject of the next article.

Edith Irby: A Hidden Figure in the History of Medical Education

Edith Irby entered the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in September 1948, becoming the first African American to desegregate a Southern medical school. Seventy years later, she has become a hidden figure in the history of medical education.The author provides a brief biography of Irby (later Jones) and analyzes the factors that led the University of Arkansas to admit Irby, most notably her scholastic excellence and an innovative legal strategy launched by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to eliminate racial inequalities in graduate and professional education. Irby's admission prompted intensified efforts by medical civil rights activists to desegregate all U.S. medical schools.The author concludes that the 70th anniversary of Irby's groundbreaking accomplishment provides an opportunity to acknowledge her significant contribution to the history of medical education and to recognize the continued need to erase persistent racial inequalities in the physician workforce.

Bibliometrics of Tunisian publications on respiratory tract diseases from 2010 to 2014

AIM

To describe the bibliometric characteristics of Tunisian publications on respiratory tract diseases, during the quinquennium 2010-2014.

METHODS

This is a descriptive bibliometric study of respiratory medicine publications, indexed in "Medline", based on their MSDSs. All included articles were written by Tunisian researchers regardless of their position in the list of co-authors. The topics of the publications were explored through their "major" and "generic" keywords.

RESULTS

A total of 340 publications was captured in Medline. These articles were co- authored by 218 authors in first position and 163 in last position. They were signed by pulmonologists, in first and last position respectively in 21.5% and 22.4% of articles. The A. Mami Hospital was the major affiliation of the first authors in 19.7% of the publications. These articles were published by 138 journals including "La Tunisie Medicale" in 11.8% of cases. They were "case reports" and written in English respectively in 44.4% and 54.1% of cases. Among 639 major keywords indexing, three were dominant: «Lung Neoplasms» (Tumeurs du poumon), «Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease» (Broncho-pneumopathie chronique obstructive) and «Tuberculosis, Pulmonary» (Tuberculose pulmonaire), in 13.5%, 10.3% and 7.4% of articles respectively.

CONCLUSION

Tunisian research on respiratory tract diseases has been thematically concordant with the public health needs. However, it has often been of low-level evidence and published in low-impact factor journals.

George Deacon and the circulation of homeopathic therapies in Lima (1880-1915)

Homeopathy arrived from the United States to Peruvian soil in the last decades of the nineteenth century, broadening the repertoire of existing medical knowledge, which included an emerging medical profession, Chinese herbalists, and indigenous practitioners. This article examines the circulation and use of homeopathic therapies and medicines in Lima from the time when the American homeopath George Deacon initiated his practice, in the 1880s, until his death, in 1915. Although homeopathy was not the most widely used medical therapy in the country, it nevertheless posed a threat to professional medicine and the School of Medicine's desired monopoly of the field of medicine.

[The 26 native and foreign medical schools in Tibet before 10th Century]

This paper referenced to a number of classic Tibetan medical works and some old Tibetan sources to list 26 Tibetan Medical Schools in Tibet before 10(th) century, that including the Tibetan Proper School (bod kyi lugs nad thar gso bar bye pa gnyen po bzhi ldan gyi rgyud), Ancient Zhang Zhung School (zhang zhung gi lugs nad thur du sbyong ba bshal gyi rgyud), Persian-Arabica School (ta zig gyi lugs), Indian Vedic School (rgya gar gyi lugs la rig pa ye she), Turkic School (dru gu'i dpyad lcags kyi sur phug) , Sinic School (rgya nag lugs la 'khor 'das rtsis kyi rgyud) and Greek School (khrom gyi lugs la chu dpyad zla ba bsil gyi rgyud) etc.

Scientific Representations at the UPR School of Tropical Medicine. I: Images of Science

The essay examines the scientific representations that prevailed at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the first in a historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution. It reviews faculty's principal investigations (by disciplines and research problems), development of research programs, and concomitant scientific productivity and research outcomes. The essay focuses on the emerged scientific representations and the nature of sciences, and has been divided into four sections: 1) images of science, 2) the evolution of science in the first two eras (1926-40), 3) the third and last era unfolding (1941-49), and 4) special studies. This first paper focuses on the scientific images that emerged from an examination of communities' interactions, networks, and academic and foundational documents. The scientific representations have been brought about through the analyses of different sources: academic and research reports, and publications in external and local venues. The most significant findings of this representational inquiry are: the idea of an academic tropical center in the tropics had a shared colonial-metropolis image; the community of common, but unequal, scientific citizens became an integrated epistemological community; interdisciplinary cooperation was the School's research dictum; and an image of a mature science and school of tropical medicine emerged. The richness and varieties of the practices and outcomes of science at the STM are analytically viewed as research schemas, exemplars of knowledge (paradigms), and epistemological fields (epistemes).

Medical education in Laos

Medical education in Laos has undergone significant developments over the last century. A transition from a foreign to locally trained medical workforce has taken place, with international partners having an ongoing presence. Undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Laos is now delivered by a single, government administered university. The transition to locally based training has had many flow-on benefits, including the retention of Lao doctors in the country and having graduates who are familiar with the local health system. A number of challenges do however exist. Medical resources in the Lao language are limited, teacher numbers and capacity are lacking and complex factors have led to a lack of uniformity in graduate competencies. Despite these challenges, the situation for medical education in Laos is a story of great optimism. Local staff has recognized the need for simple yet innovative solutions and processes are in place for the establishment of a licensing system for medical doctors and reforming existing curricula. Sustained, long-term relationships with partner organizations along with constructive use of technology are likely to be important factors affecting the future direction of medical education in Laos.

[The History of Beta Thalassaemia in Sardinia: The Contribution of the Italian Schools of Pediatrics]

Beta thalassaemia represents one of the most common autosomal recessive disorders worldwide. High prevalence is present in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Far East. The highest incidences are reported in Cyprus, South East Asia and Sardinia and are most likely related to the selective pressure from Pl. falciparum, the causative agent of malaria. In Sardinia, because of the health relevance of beta thalassaemia and haemoglobinopathies and after the publication of the first scientific research on Cooley's anaemia, important Schools of Paediatrics and Clinical Genetics have been set up, which have contributed to defining diagnostic criteria, therapeutic and preventive measures (especially, newborn screening). The aim of the present study is to examine the results of the first scientific research made by the Sardinian Schools of Paediatrics and Clinical Genetics, from 1929 to 1957.

The First Women Physicians in the History of Modern Greek Medicine: Maria Kalapothaki (1859-1941) and Aggeliki Panagiotatou (1878-1954)

In an era when medicine in Greece was dominated by men, at the end of the 19th and during the first decades of 20th century, two women, Maria Kalapothakes [in Greek: Μαρία Καλαποθάκη] (1859-1941) and Angélique Panayotatou [in Greek: Αγγελική Παναγιωτάτου] (1878-1954), managed to stand out and contribute to the evolution of medicine. Maria Kalapothakes received medical education in Paris and then she returned to Greece. Not only did she contribute to several fields of medicine, but also exercised charity and even undertook the task of treating war victims on many occasions. Angélique Panayotatou studied medicine at the University of Athens and then moved to Alexandria in Egypt, where she specialized in tropical medicine and also engaged in literature. Panayotatou became the first female professor of the Medical School of Athens and the first female member of the Academy of Athens. In recognition for their contributions, Kalapothakes and Panayotatou received medals and honors for both their scientific work and social engagement.

The impact of the Cabanis reform on medical education in Brazil: an assessment of neo-Foucauldian archeology

This text assesses the impact of the Cabanis reform on the formation of the health training model which became hegemonic in Brazil. First, we shall briefly discuss the process of constructing the social, ideological, and institutional framework for healthcare in post-revolutionary France. Next the main elements of the Cabanis reform are introduced, analyzing curricular and pedagogical aspects of the new plan for medical education based on professionalism, disciplines, and expertise that resulted in a system of higher education without universities. This is followed by assessment of the historical process which resulted in the "Francization" of the Brazilian educational system, particularly in higher education and more specifically medical education, producing a model of health training based on colleges, hospitals, classrooms, disciplines, skills, and diplomas.

A Reflection Upon the Impact of Early 21st-Century Technological Innovations on Medical School Admissions

The authors describe influences associated with the incorporation of modern technologies into medical school admissions processes. Their purpose is not to critique or support specific technologies but, rather, to prompt reflection on the evolution that is afoot. Technology is now integral to the administration of multiple admissions tools, including the Medical College Admission Test, situational judgment tests, and standardized video interviews. Consequently, today's admissions landscape is transforming into an online, globally interconnected marketplace for health professions admissions tools. Academic capitalism and distance-based technologies combine to enable global marketing and dissemination of admissions tests beyond the national jurisdictions in which they are designed. As predicted by disruptive business theory, they are becoming key drivers of transformative change. The seeds of technological disruption are present now rather than something to be wary of in the future. The authors reflect on this transformation and the need for tailoring test modifications to address issues of medical student diversity and social responsibility. They comment on the online assessment of applicants' personal competencies and the potential detriments if this method were to replace admissions methods involving human contact, thanks to the ease with which institutions can implement them without cost to themselves and without adequate consideration of measurement utility or contextual appropriateness. The authors advocate for socially responsible academic capitalism within this interconnected admissions marketplace: Attending to today's transformative challenges may inform how health professions education responds to tomorrow's admissions technologies and, in turn, how tomorrow's health professionals respond to their patients' needs.

Medical Student Deaths by Suicide: The Importance of Transparency

In this Invited Commentary, the authors present a call to action regarding the paucity of data related to medical student deaths by suicide. They review the limited literature on medical student suicide and suggest that no comprehensive study has ever occurred. They believe that the available data are too limited to conclude what the rate of death by suicide is among medical students compared with their age-matched peers. The authors speculate that the lack of accurate data may be related both to reluctance on the part of schools to report deaths by suicide and to the failure of national organizations like the Association of American Medical Colleges, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and Liaison Committee on Medical Education to mandate reporting. The authors believe that without reliable data, the medical education community will never be able to determine whether any trends or predictors are connected to medical student death by suicide and that, as a result, intervening in a meaningful way will remain impossible. The authors call on the national organizing bodies of medical education to mandate reporting of deaths by suicide, and to create and maintain a database for tracking and studying these events. They advocate for public access to unidentified data, linking medical schools to the number of deaths by suicide, as another method of creating accountability and influencing medical school behavior in addressing this tragic phenomenon.

The impact of the Cabanis reform on the historical formation of the Argentine university and on higher education in health

In this essay, we seek to evaluate the impact of the Cabanis reform on the configuration of the health education model that became hegemonic in Argentina. First, we analyze the restructuring of the French educational system triggered by the revolution of 1789, primarily in its political and institutional dimensions. Second, we briefly discuss the process of the social, ideological and institutional reconstruction of the health system in post-revolutionary France. Third, we introduce the Cabanis reform, a proposal for medical education based on professionalism, disciplinarity and specialization that resulted in a higher education system without universities, looking into its main curricular and pedagogical aspects. Finally, we evaluate the sequence of events and processes that, throughout the 19th century, with strong Cabanisian influence through the Idéologie, shaped both the principal features of teaching health and medicine and the higher education model based on faculties currently predominant in the Argentine Republic.

Dr John McLennan MD (Aberdeen), FRCP (Lond) (1801-1874) and the Medical School of Bombay that failed

In 1826, Dr John McLennan was asked by Governor Mounstuart Elphinstone of Bombay to set up the first school to teach modern medicine to Indian citizens. He was expected to create textbooks on a variety of subjects in local languages and teach medicine to poorly educated students in their native tongues. Despite his valiant efforts, the school was deemed a failure and was abolished by the Government in 1832. Sir Robert Grant, appointed Governor of Bombay in 1835, analysed records pertaining to this medical school and concluded that the school failed since Dr McLennan was not provided the assistance he needed and as his suggestions for access to a hospital to teach medicine were not heeded. Dr McLennan provided able support to Dr Charles Morehead on his appointment as Principal and Professor of Medicine at the newly created Grant Medical College in Bombay in 1845. Dr Morehead dedicated his classic 'Clinical researches on diseases in India' to Dr McLennan. Dr McLennan headed the Board of Examiners created to assess the competence of the first batch of medical students emerging from this College. The system of evaluation set up by him remains admirable. Dr McLennan retired from service as Physician-General, full of honours.

History of Japanese medical education

Since medical education programs in Korea and Japan seem to mutually influence each other, this review article provides a history of Japanese medical education, focusing on the way in which it influenced and was influenced by Korean medical education. In the late 19th century, the University of Tokyo established the core medical school, disseminating its scholarship and system to other medical schools. In the early 20th century, the balance between the quality and quantity of medical education became a new issue; in response, Japan developed different levels of medical school, ranging from imperial universities to medical colleges and medical vocational schools. After World War II, all of Japan's medical schools became part of the university system, which was heavily regulated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) Standard for the Establishment of Universities. In 1991, MOE deregulated the Standard; since 2000, several new systems have been established to regulate medical schools. These new approaches have included the Model Core Curriculum, 2-year mandatory postgraduate training, and a medical education accreditation system. Currently, most medical schools are nervous, as a result of tighter regulatory systems that include an accreditation system for undergraduate education and a specialty training system for postgraduate education.