The Beaumont Medical Club was founded in 1920 by a group of Yale University School of Medicine physicians and faculty members including George Blumer, former dean, C.-E.A. Winslow, renowned microbiologist and public health practitioner, and M.C. Winternitz, well-know pathologist and dean of the medical school. Although the club’s first meeting was held on December 14, 1920, the club adopted its official name three months later after some discussion. The founders were interested in naming the club for a distinguished physician, choosing William Beaumont, a Connecticut native and an early pioneer in physiology in this country, as an appropriate honoree.
The club was organized to promote the study of the history of medicine and to celebrate the contributions of physicians and medical scientists in promoting the welfare of mankind. From its inception, the Beaumont Medical Club has met on six or seven Friday evenings during the academic year in the Yale Historical Library to hear presentations by members and invited speakers. The meetings have been preceded by an informal tea and have been followed by a sherry hour and dinner for members and invited guests in the Beaumont Room almost since the beginning of the club’s history.
Today, tea is served at 4:30 P.M. in the Beaumont Room on the second floor of the Sterling Hall of Medicine above the medical library; the presentation starts at 5 P.M. in the Fulton Room, L215; sherry and refreshments are served in the library immediately following the presentation; and dinner is served in the Beaumont Room from 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.
All Beaumont Medical Club lectures are held in the Fulton Room at 333 Cedar Street unless otherwise noted.
Fall 2019
September 20
Nichola Harris, PhD, Associate Professor of European History, SUNY Ulster
Lapidary Medicine: Mineral Pharmacology within the Medical Marketplace of Early Modern England
October 11
Toby Appel, PhD., M.L.S., Associated Faculty, History of Science and Medicine
Connecticut’s Medical Diploma Mill Scandal of 1923: State Licensing and the Limitations of Medical Authority
November 15
Elan Louis, M.D., M.S., Professor of Neurology and of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases); Chief, Division of Movement Disorders; Co-director, Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research, Yale University
The Sherrington-Cushing Correspondence: A Bench to Bedside Collaboration at the Dawn of the 20th Century
Spring 2020
February 21
Stephen Casper, PhD, Professor of History, Clarkson University
The Vernacular Economy of Disease: Trauma, Concussion, and Dementia in Modern American Culture, 1900-2012
April 17
Miriam Rich, PhD, Lecturer in the History of Medicine, Yale University
TBA
Historical Library
Yale Medical School
Tea served 4:30 P.M. in the Beaumont Room
Lecture at 5:00 P.M. in the Fulton Room, SHM, L215, 333 Cedar Street
Members’ Dinner 6:30 P.M. in the Beaumont Room
Open to all interested in the History of Medicine