The Proceedings of the 18th Annual History of Medicine Days Conference 2009

Book excerpt: This volume is the first one in a peer-reviewed series of Proceedings Volumes from the Calgary History of Medicine Days conferences, which are now produced with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The History of Medicine Days are two-day Nation-wide conferences held annually in spring at the University of Calgary (Canada), where undergraduate and early graduate students from across Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Europe give paper and poster presentations on a wide variety of topics from the history of medicine and health care. The selected 2009 conference papers that are assembled in this volume, particularly comprise the history of Ancient Medicine, Canadiana, Eugenics, Military Medicine, Public Health, Surgery, Diseases, as well as Sex and Gender perspectives. Distinguished Professor of Biology and Chair of the History of Biology Program at Washington University in St. Louis (USA), Dr. Garland E. Allen, held the 2009 keynote address at the conference. His topic “Evolution, Genetics and Eugenics: The Misuse of Biological Theory, 1900–1945” was largely based on an earlier article in the scholarly journal Endeavour. With the permission of the author and editors-in-chief of Endeavour, this article could be reprinted in the current volume where it represents the 2009 keynote address. This volume also includes the abstracts of all 2009 conference presentations and is well-illustrated with diagrams and images pertaining to the history of medicine.