Speakers will summarize the results of a National Academy of Medicine funded, first systematic investigation of the history of epidemiology. After briefly reviewing the lack of population thinking and group comparisons before 1600, we will discuss 5 phases: 1) Foundation & Emergence: during the 17th and 18th c, in relation to plague, smallpox inoculation, and scurvy. 2) Installation (19th c): in the UK around the investigation of the etiology, treatment or prevention of infectious diseases. 3) Academia (early 20th c): first Departments and schools, and implementation of the main designs (cohort studies, case-control studies, and randomized controlled trials). 4) Recognition (1945-1973): as a major science of public health because of identifying causes of cancer and CVD, and a growing role in clinical research. 5) Integration (since 1976): of epidemiology and biostatistics in Universities and Health Care settings.
Session Chair:
Alfredo Morabia
Presenters:
Alfredo Morabia, Columbia University
“Intro & Epidemiology before the 17th Century”
Kristin Heitman, Historian, Independent Scholar
“Foundation and Emergence, 17th and 18th Century)
Anne Hardy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
“Installation and Academia, 19th and pre 1945 20th Century”
Henry Blackburn, University of Minnesota
“Recognition, 1945-1973”
Alfredo Morabia, Columbia University
“Integration, 1974 – Today”