Beaumont Medical Club Lectures

The Beaumont Medical Club was founded in 1920 by a group of Yale University School of Medicine physicians and faculty members including George Blumer, former dean, C.-E.A. Winslow, renowned microbiologist and public health practitioner, and M.C. Winternitz, well-know pathologist and dean of the medical school. Although the club's first meeting was held on December 14, 1920, the club adopted its official name three months later after some discussion. The founders were interested in naming the club for a distinguished physician, choosing William Beaumont, a Connecticut native and an early pioneer in physiology in this country, as an appropriate honoree.

The club was organized to promote the study of the history of medicine and to celebrate the contributions of physicians and medical scientists in promoting the welfare of mankind. From its inception, the Beaumont Medical Club has met on six or seven Friday evenings during the academic year in the Yale Historical Library to hear presentations by members and invited speakers. The meetings have been preceded by an informal tea and have been followed by a sherry hour and dinner for members and invited guests in the Beaumont Room almost since the beginning of the club's history.

Today, tea is served at 4:30 P.M. in the Beaumont Room on the second floor of the Sterling Hall of Medicine above the medical library; the presentation starts at 5 P.M. in the Historical Library on the first floor; sherry and refreshments are served in the library immediately following the presentation; and dinner is served in the Beaumont Room from 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.

Membership in the Beaumont Medical Club is open to both physicians and non-physicians with a serious interest in the history of medicine. Anyone interested in applying for membership should contact Ronald T. Rozett, M.D., M.P.H. at rrozett@comcast.net.

2007-2008 Schedule

September 28		Robert Udelson, Harvey Cushing as an Artist
October 19		Susan Lederer - Treat with Meat:  Patients, Protein, and Pernicious Anemia in the 1920s
November 16		Richard Young - Army Medicine: From Antietam to Baghdad
January 18		Barron Lerner (Fulton Fellow)
February 15		John Eyler - The Fog of Research: Vaccine Trials During the Great Influenza (Rosen Lecture)
March 28		Bruno Strasser - How Can the Future Shape the Past? Inventing Collective Memories About Progress - The Laboratory and the Clinic in the 20th Century
April 18		Christiane Noeckels-Fabbri - Snake-Oil or Brand-Name Medicine: The Wonderful Virtues of Theriac
May 16		Hartford meeting - William McDonald, DMD - The Contributions of Dentists Horace Wells and Horace H. Hayden to Anesthesiology and Dental Education. Lecture will take place at the University of Connecticut Health Center in the Henry Low Learning Center.