Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, ca. 1860

Why Not Just Be a Nurse?

To be taken seriously as physicians, women doctors in nineteenth-century Britain felt the need to distinguish themselves from others of their gender.
A dukun preparing medicine, c. 1910-1940

The International History of “Indigenous” Malay Healers

The origins of Malay and Indonesian dukun healers are intertwined with the history of Persian involvement in the region.
An illustration of a sick horse in a barn, 1872

Civilization Without Horses: The Epizootic of 1872

We’re all now too familiar with the words “pandemic” and “epidemic,” but how about “epizootic”?
High angle close-up view of a senior Caucasian woman's hands drawing Alzheimer's disease cognitive functions clock test with positive results suggesting illness

Half Past Dementia

Drawing a clock has become a standard test of cognitive impairment, but there’s no consensus on who should do it or how.
Produce is offered for sale at a grocery store on October 13, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.

The Price of Plenty: Should Food Be Cheap?

The supermarket revolution made food more affordable and accessible than ever. But do the hidden costs of food feed into our illusions of justice and progress?
A photograph of a company of Black troops from the archives of the United States Sanitary Commission

The Sanitary Commission’s Other Agenda

The US Sanitary Commission is credited with saving lives during the Civil War, but its leadership hoped it would be remembered for advancing racialized science.
Spoonful of soil

The Question of Geophagy: Why Eat Dirt?

Scientists have three theories about why people and animals eat dirt.
A black and white newspaper advertisement titled The Abortion Handbook. Lana Clarke Phelan and Patricia Maginnis are names listed below the title.

When San Francisco Feminists Rated Mexican Abortions

The California activists played the role of a health agency to ensure women received safe and competent health care in Mexican clinics.
A nurse bottle-feeding a baby at St Vincent's Hospital, Montclair, Mexico, 1955

The Milk Banks of New York

Milk banks, a successor concept to wet nursing, are a little discussed part of the contemporary landscape of infant care.
Hospital emergency room entrance sign

Medicalizing Domestic Violence

What happens when experts position domestic violence inside a biomedical model of care?