Students in History of Medicine and Public Health

Students and their education are integral to our mission at the CHHASSEM History of Medicine and Public Health discipline area, where we actively foster dialog in the history of medicine, mentor faculty and learners, and provide hands-on opportunities in  historical research. We encourage interested medical, graduate and professional students to contact us to discuss opportunities to investigate and experience key elements of research in the medical humanities. For more information, email the Center.

In 1929, a group of medical students approached the Chair of Medicine, Dr. Cyrus Sturgis, with an idea to launch a student-led organization dedicated to the extracurricular study of the history of medicine. With Dr. Sturgis’s assistance, these students established the Victor Vaughan Student Society for the History and Philosophy of Medicine, named for the long-serving dean of the Medical School.

For the next fifty years, members were invited from the senior class. During the Society’s first decades, students and faculty mentors presented lengthy papers at the monthly meetings, all preserved in bound volumes now housed in the University library. The format changed in 1980 to include presentations by students or faculty members interested in the history of medicine. The monthly meetings have included student papers, invited speakers and sessions on literature and medicine. Members have visited the Medical Rare Book Room at the Taubman Health Sciences Library, the Bentley Historical Library, the William L. Clements Library and other campus locations rich in medical history.

In 2003 the society found a permanent home at the Center for the History of Medicine, which was located in the historic Simpson Memorial Institute on Observatory Street. The first director of the Simpson Institute was Dr. Cyrus Sturgis, whose named library is located on the first floor of the Simpson building.  History and the Society truly had come full circle.

In 2019, several student members expressed concern over the name of the Society.  In particular, students were uncomfortable with Victor Vaughan’s stance on eugenics and, as president of the Michigan State Board of Health, his support for the state’s 1913 forced sterilization law. In response, a meeting of the Society was convened to discuss changing the name of the organization. Members voted, and the name was changed to the Society for the History and Philosophy of Medicine.

Shortly thereafter, the Covid-19 pandemic struck and campus life was turned upside down. Society meetings continued virtually, but membership began to dwindle. 

Today, a reinvigorated and expanded Society has been launched, simply known as the "History of Medicine Club."  Sponsored by CHHASSEM, we welcome any campus community member interested in attending and participating. Please join us for these free monthly lectures!

For more information, please contact us at 734-647-6914.