Jacalyn Duffin, MD, PhD: The Canadian Medical Expedition to Easter Island

MHSNJ Zoom Program—Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 7:00 pm EST

Donald F. Kent Memorial Lecture

Speaker:            Jacalyn Duffin, MD, PhD

Topic:                 The Canadian Medical Expedition to Easter Island

Abstract

This is the story of a passionate attempt to capture the entire biosphere of an isolated community facing ecological transformation.  Based on archives, diaries, photographs, interviews with members of the original research team, and her own trip to the Pacific island, Dr. Duffin’s talk will set the 1964-65 expedition in its global context within the early days of environmental research.  It will also reveal important discoveries, some previously unrecognized, emerging from the expedition and her own research.

About the speaker

Hematologist and medical historian Jacalyn Duffin, MD, PhD, is Hannah Professor Emerita at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, where she occupied the Hannah Chair of the History of Medicine from 1988 to 2017.

A former president of both the American and Canadian scholarly societies for the history of medicine, she is the author of eleven books and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, and holds several awards for teaching, research, and service. 

Dr. Duffin’s research focuses on disease, technology, religion, and health policy, and she runs an activist website for information about the Canadian drug shortage.

Dr. Duffin’s award-winning book, Stanley’s Dream, about Canada’s medical expedition to Easter Island, was published in 2019 and will serve as the subject of her talk on January 20, 2026.  Her most recent book, COVID-19: A History, appeared in 2022 and describes the global history of the virus, with a focus on Canada.  She is editor-in-chief of the Oxford Bibliographies history of medicine module, an authoritative guide to current academic scholarship.