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Founded in 1980


T
he first state-level medical history society to have a website.  Our goal is to promote interest, research, and writing in medical history, and we are dedicated to the discussion and enjoyment of the history of medicine and allied fields.

  

Are you interested in the history of medicine? Do you want to get together with an enjoyable group of like-minded individuals who are interested in furthering the study of the history of medicine? You've come to the right place, and we're happy to have you!

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Founded in 1980, the Medical History Society of New Jersey (MHSNJ) for many years held semiannual dinner meetings at the Nassau Club, in Princeton, NJ.  The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted this format, causing cancellation of the Spring 2020 meeting, and led to the establishment of periodic virtual programs, conducted monthly or bimonthly, using Zoom technology. 

In 2023, the Spring Princeton meetings were resumed, in hybrid format, and periodic virtual meetings were continued, at approximately bimonthly intervals. 

From 1980 until 2014, MHSNJ published a Newsletter that was circulated at the time of the semiannual meetings.  In 2022, the Newsletter was resumed as an online publication, appearing weekly.   

MHSNJ, in 2001, was the first state-level medical history society to establish a website.  In 2008, the website began to publish Original Articles written by Society members, and in 2017, Book Reviews written by Society members started to appear. 

MHSNJ sponsors two endowed lectureships every year, to which prominent medical historians are invited.  The Saffron Lecture series, named for Morris H. Saffron, MD, PhD, dermatologist and medical historian, was established in 1980. The Kent Memorial Lecture series, named for physician, teacher and humanist Donald F. Kent, MD, PhD, began in 2013. 


 Announcements

SAVE THE DATE!

  • Program Schedule for 2025-26 

    Tuesday, September 16, 2025

    Michael Nevins, MD

    “Monkey Business”


    Tuesday, October 21, 2025

    Richard Marfuggi, MD, DMH

    “Medicine, Art, and a Love Affair”


    Tuesday, November 18, 2025

    Jeffrey Levine, MD

    “Secrets of the Fabrica”


    Tuesday, January 20, 2026   (Kent Memorial Lecture)

    Jacalyn Duffin, MD, PhD

    “Medical Expedition to Easter Island”

     

    Tuesday, February 17, 2026

    Alan Lippman, MD and Linda Costanzo, PhD

    “Organ Transplantation: History and Ethics Intersect”

     

    Tuesday, March 17, 2026      (Kent Memorial Lecture)

    Jock Murray, MD

    “Artists Who Painted Their Own Illness”


    Wednesday, May 6, 2026      (Annual Spring Meeting, Princeton)

    Afternoon speakers:

    1. Dennis Cornfield, MD: “Covert Medical Activity in the Warsaw Ghetto”
    2. Julia Friberg and Ted Eisenstat, MD“Toxic Ideology”
    3. Richard Marfuggi, MD, DMH : “Conan Doyle for the Defense”

    Saffron Memorial Lecture

    William C. Summers, MD, PhD: “The Great Manchurian Plague of 1910-11”



    New Book Review available:

    Troubled and Troubling: Has American Medicine Lost Its Soul? by Michael Nevins
    Reviewed by: Alan Lippman, MD





     



                                                    

     



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    Medical History Society of New Jersey
    c/o Robert Vietrogoski
    29 Sheridan Avenue
    West Orange, NJ 07052

    Phone: (862)-373-0559 

    Email: bob.vietrogoski@gmail.com 

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