We will explore the stories of medical professionals who made the breakthroughs in medical science and patient care that we enjoy today. This will enhance our respect for their past achievements and emphasize the need for continued research funding.
Since the 1850s, an incredible stream of medical breakthroughs have transformed our daily lives. Complications from childbirth and deaths from infections have been greatly reduced through antiseptics, antibiotics, vaccines, and other drugs. New surgical procedures and devices have benefited millions.
The doctors, nurses, and researchers responsible for these achievements stretch from Clara Barton and Joseph Lister in the 1850s to Marie Curie, Doctors Salk and Sabin, and the developers of the present-day Covid vaccine technology. These medical innovators were dogged in their perseverance. Often, they were mavericks who faced major obstacles including opposition from within the medical community itself. We’ll explore the specific conditions and diseases they helped overcome and what it took to convince others to experiment and bring their innovations into general use.
Lam, A., M.D., The Masters of Medicine: Our Greatest Triumphs in the Race to Cure Humanity’s Deadliest Diseases (Ben Bella Books, Inc, 2023); ‘ Baylor University, “13 Famous Nurses Who Shaped The World of Nursing” (onlinenursing.baylor.edu, May 27, 2022).
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