Hunt Historical Lectureship Series

The Thomas E. Hunt Lectureship

The Thomas Hunt Lectureship was established in 2008 to honor Dr. Thomas Hunt. Dr. Hunt is a retired orthopedic surgeon who practiced in Baltimore. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland Medical School, and completed his residency at Johns Hopkins . He is a past president of the Baltimore City Medical Society, the Maryland Orthopedic Association and the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Maryland. He has a keen interest in Maryland medical history and serves as the informal MedChi historian, and is recognized for his longtime contribution to the care of the needy. The Hunt Lectureship in Maryland Medical History honors Maryland physicians who have made a significant contribution to medicine.

2013-Dr. Joshua Sharfstein
History of the FDA and the American Story of Public Health Regulation

The 2013 Hunt Lectureship will take place on Wednesday, June 26th with a 6:00 p.m. reception and the lecture at 6:30. Dr. Sharfstein is the the Secretary of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and was the Assistant Secretary of the FDA in the Obama Administration. Please check back for further information as we move closer to the date.

2012-Robert J. Ursano
PTDS and Other Trauma-Related Disorders

The 2012 Hunt Lectureship featured a talk by Dr. Ursano on Post-Traumatic Distress Syndrome and other trauma-related disorders.

2011-Dr. Alfred Sommer
Better Nutrition: The Maryland Connection Myths & Legends

The most recent Thomas E. Hunt Lecture featured Dr. Alfred Sommer, a prominent ophthalmologist and epidemiologist. He is well-known for his research on vitamin A.  He demonstrated the impact of vitamin A deficiency on childhood blindness and mortality in developing countries. His discovery has led to one of the most cost effective interventions in the world, just two vitamin A capsules a year saves millions of lives.

Dr. Alfred Sommer received his BS at Union College in New York, his MD at Harvard Medical School and his MHS in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He completed his ophthalmology residency and a fellowship in ophthalmology at  the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has a long affiliation with the Bloomberg School of Public Health as a professor and Dean of the School from 1990-2005. He has received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to medicine and public health. In 1997 he received the Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award and is a University Distinguished ServiceProfessor at Johns Hopkins University.

Click here for the June 30th Symposium slide show.

2010-Dr. Myron Weisfeldt
The Beat Goes On: 50 Years of CPR

The Center for a Healthy Maryland hosted a reception, exhibit unveiling, and educational program to honor the milestone anniversary of the origins of CPR. This life-saving technique was pioneered by Maryland physicians and scientists in the 1950s and first advanced, nationally, at the MedChi Semi-Annual Meeting in September 1960 when two scientific papers were presented: one on artificial respiration and one on external chest compression. These two methods were later combined to become modern CPR.

On November 11, 2010, many of the pioneers in CPR research and dissemination, and their families, gathered at MedChi in Baltimore to view the Museum of Maryland Medicine’s inaugural exhibit: The Beat Goes On: 50 Years of CPR. A Governor’s Proclamation was read and citations were awarded to the physicians in attendance, including Dr. James Jude and Dr. Donald Dembo, and the surviving family members of Dr. William Kouwenhoven, Dr. Leonard Scherlis, and Dr. Marvin Nachlas. Also recognized were Dr. Peter Safar, Dr. Guy Knickerbocker and Captain Martin McMahon. The Hunt Lectureship on CPR Horizons and Research was presented by Myron L. Weisfeldt, M.D., William Osler Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Click here to see photographs of the exhibit, The Beat Goes On: 50 years of CPR, and the November 11, 2010 event honoring this anniversary.

To view the slideshow presented during the CPR event reception, please click here.

2009-Centennial Celebration: 1909-2009

On May 13, 2009 the Center for a Healthy Maryland held a celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the MedChi Library Building and Osler Hall. More than one hundred guests gathered to honor this important date in the history of Maryland medicine.

The program included an invocation by Rabbi Mark Loeb, greetings from the Deans of the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and the benediction and re-dedication of the MedChi Building by His Eminence, William Cardinal Keeler. Dr. George Bone recounted the 210 years of MedChi history and Mr. Johns Hopkins of Baltimore Heritage Inc. spoke of the historic significance of the MedChi Building and Osler Hall.

Present at the event were representatives from the Office of NIH History and Museum, the National Museum of Dentistry, and the William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History, whose expertise will be an invaluable resource as the History of Maryland Medicine Campaign evolves, culminating in the Maryland Medicine Museum.

Click here to view photos from the Centennial Celebration.
Click here for a summary of the Celebration program.
Centennial Celebration Commemmorative Booklet