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July 2001
Volume 65 |
Number 7
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Lewis
H. Wright Memorial Lecture:
Dale C. Smith, Ph.D., to Discuss
‘Anaesthetists: Arguments, Attainments and Authority,
1870-1920’
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Kathryn E.
McGoldrick, M.D., Chair
Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lectureship Committee
Wood Library–Museum of Anesthesiology
The Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture, sponsored annually by the
Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, honors its namesake, an
indefatigable pioneer in American anesthesiology who was devoted
to enhancing the stature of anesthesiology as a clinical science
and medical specialty. A dynamic innovator, Dr. Wright was a founding
member of the Board of Trustees of the Wood Library-Museum and,
in later years, served as its president-emeritus. He also was
a founder of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists
in 1955, working in close collaboration with Harold R. Griffith,
M.D.
This year’s distinguished Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecturer
is Dale C. Smith, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department
of Medical History at the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. His lecture, “Anaesthetists:
Arguments, Attainments and Authority, 1870-1920,” will be
delivered at the ASA Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 16, at
1 p.m. Dr. Smith will describe the emergence of the protospecialty
of anesthesiology and discuss why its acceptance remained a minority
opinion during the early years of the 20th century.
Born in Orlando, Florida, in 1951, Dr. Smith has accumulated
an impressive academic background. He received his B.A. from Duke
University and his Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the University
of Minnesota. Dr. Smith has written extensively and has delivered
numerous lectures nationally and internationally. Among the many
eponymous lectures to Dr. Smith’s credit was the annual Samuel
Clark Harvey Memorial Lecture given in 1991 at Yale University
School of Medicine, where he spoke about “Curing With Cold
Steel: The Emergence of Surgery as a Therapeutic Option, 1880-1930.”
Other presentations reflective of his eclectic historical interests
have explored medicine’s place in the university, the Flexner
report and its consequences, a historical perspective on surgical
training and certification in the United States, the impact of
the Civil War on orthopedic surgery, the influence of malaria
on military operations and medical history, the role of women
in American medicine, the influence of anesthesia on the development
of modern surgery and a historical perspective on medical malpractice
litigation in America.
Anyone who has had the good fortune to hear Dr. Smith speak knows
that he possesses a savant’s reverence for accuracy, provenance
and context. Yet his erudition sparkles with a vibrant wit and
an unwillingness to be held hostage by the tyranny of convention.
An insightful, engaging and provocative speaker, Dr. Smith is
fascinated by the romance and humor of history. Nonetheless, he
is a consummate realist with no tendency to hide the less savory
moments of our past or to give a glossy make-over to historical
figures. His lectures provide a palimpsest of historical references,
suggesting continually shifting cultural values as well as the
political, economic, geographic and social factors that have shaped
medicine. Adept at exposing myths and misconceptions, Dr. Smith
is not one to package a tidy set of simplistic historical images
suggesting that medical history is a neat continuum moving toward
perfectly realized objectives. Rather, he reflects an abiding
appreciation of the concept that the “real” picture
is vastly more intriguing than the retouched and sanitized version.
The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology is honored to have
the eminent medical historian Dale C. Smith, Ph.D., as the 2001
Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecturer. We thank him for his unique
gift of infusing life and relevancy into our medical heritage,
rather than merely preserving it like an insect in amber.
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Kathryn E. McGoldrick,
M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology at Yale University School
of Medicine, and Medical Director of Ambulatory Surgery at
Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut. She is a
trustee of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology. |
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