John C. Burnham Lecture Series | History of Medicine/Science
John Chynoweth Burnham (1929-2017) was a distinguished historian, teacher, and mentor whose career at The Ohio State University spanned nearly four decades. Internationally recognized for his pioneering scholarship in the history of medicine, science, psychology, and culture, he authored 10 books and nearly 100 articles, served as president of the American Association for the History of Medicine, and inspired generations of students through his commitment to rigorous research and intellectual inquiry. Equally admired for his generosity to colleagues and young scholars, Burnham helped strengthen the study of medical history at Ohio State and beyond. This lecture series, founded in 2001 by his wife, Marjorie Spencer Burnham, and later named in his honor, celebrates his enduring legacy as a scholar, educator, and champion of historical understanding.
Previous Lectures
2025
"Why Slavery Still Matters: Examining the Genealogy of American Gynecology"
Deirdre Cooper Owens, University of Connecticut
2024
"Stigma Then and Now: Historical Perspectives on Disease Meanings and Their Impacts"
Allan M. Brandt, Harvard University
2023
"Life and Death in the Nursery: The Establishment of Neonatal Intensive Care Units and Debates in Bioethics"
Johanna Schoen, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
2022
"Entangled Bodies: The Challenges of Living With So Many Medical Interventions"
Robert A. Aronowitz, University of Pennsylvania
2021
"To Test or Not to Test: Tools, Rules and Corporate Data in U.S. Chemicals Regulation"
Angela N.H. Creager, Princeton University
2019
"The Antibiotic Era: Reform, Resistance and the Pursuit of a Rational Therapeutics"
Scott Podolsky, MD, Harvard University
2017
"Medical Controversy and the Historian: A New Zealand Case Study"
Linda Bryder, University of Auckland
2016
"Ecology, Evolution and Emergency: Understanding Infectious Disease in Late 20th Century Medicine"
Christoph Gradmann, University of Oslo
2015
"Mandarins, Microbes and Marmots: The Great Manchurian Plague and Early Disease Ecology"
William C. Summers, Yale University
2014
"Licenses on Their Own Terms: The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Origins of the Medical Profession in the United States"
James Mohr, University of Oregon
2013
"History and Horizon Scanning: What Does the Future Hold for Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco?"
Virginia Berridge, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
2012
"The Reinvention of Chronic Disease in the 20th Century"
George Weisz, McGill University
2011
"Between Liberal Medicine and Conservative Care: The History and Politics of Pain Relief in America"
Keith Wailoo, Princeton University
2010
"Disease as a Weapon in the American Civil War"
Margaret E. Humphreys, Duke University
2009
"What Does the FDA Do? Regulation, Drug Markets and Medical Practice, 1906-2009"
Harry M. Marks, Johns Hopkins University
2008
"The Convergence of Science and Governance in Healthcare Policy"
Daniel M. Fox, Milbank Memorial Fund
2007
"La famille névropathique or How Heredity Became a Dogma for Nervous Disease"
Toby Gelfand, University of Ottawa School of Medicine
2006
"Medicine and Madison Avenue"
Nancy Tomes, State University of New York, Stony Brook
2005
"Clinicians in Search of Their Past: Osler, Allbutt and the Greeks"
Vivian Nutton, University College London
2003
"Medical Specialization in the United States, 1946-2003"
Rosemary Stevens, University of Pennsylvania
2001
"Contested Boundaries: Behavior, Disease and Diagnosis"
Charles Rosenberg, Harvard University