Celebrating a rich history in medicine

The History of Medicine Department had an exciting past couple of months full of events and awards. With Shelley McKellar, PhD, delivering an exciting Founder’s Day lunch talk, to a record breaking success at the History of Medicine Days Conference in Calgary, and finally the History of Medicine Colloquium to top it all off.

Founder’s Day lunch talk
Tonsillotomes and Toothkeys: Exploring changes in the medical and dental practice

Shelley McKellar, PhD, explored the changes in medical and dental practice through the evaluation of historical artifacts, in an interesting Founder’s Day presentation on March 5, 2015.

As part of the fascinating presentation, medical and dental artifacts from Western University’s Medical Artifact Collection were on display during the lunchtime talk for faculty, staff and students to interact with.

History of Medicine Days
Calgary Conference

This year, a record number of 10 students from Schulich Medicine were invited to present at the annual History of Medicine Days Conference in Calgary. Four Schulich Medicine students were presented with awards at the national conference, which attracts medical students from across the country to present their work on the history of medicine.

“All 10 students delivered very strong presentations. I am delighted that four of these students were awarded prizes for their hard work,” said Shelley McKellar, PhD, Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at Western University. “This national recognition reminds us of our students’ strong interest in the history of medicine.”

Congratulations to:

  • Rob Bobotsis, Medicine Class of 2018, first place for best history of surgery presentation
  • Vanessa DeMelo, Medicine Class of 2017, second place for best presentation overall
  • Jessica Bryce, Medicine Class of 2018, second place for best history of medicine presentation
  • Cindy Ningfu Zhu, Medicine Class of 2018, second place for best audio/visual presentation

History of Medicine Colloquium

The 2015 History of Medicine Colloquium took place on March 24, 2015. It was a successful evening with a full audience and 11 strong presentations from Schulich Medicine students.

The prize committee had a difficult time narrowing down the winners for the 2015 Rowntree Prize in Medical History and the 2015 Harvey Club Prize in Medical History – and in the end they chose three winners:

  • Daniel Stojanovic, Medicine Class of 2018, recipient of the 2015 Rowntree Prize in Medical History
  • Madeline Arkle, Medicine Class of 2018, and Daniel Liu, Medicine Class of 2017, recipients of the 2015 Harvey Club Prize in Medical History

The night concluded with a special presentation by the fourth-year Integration & Transitions History of Medicine Selection group. View the "Top 10 reasons why studying medical history will make me a better doctor" complete list.

“The presentation was thoughtful, reflective and provided a terrific finish to the evening,” said McKellar.

Check out these photo highlights from the events. Can’t see the slideshow below? Click here to view.