John Duffy (medical historian)

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John Duffy
Duffy in 1941
Born(1915-03-27)March 27, 1915
Barrow-in-Furness, England
DiedJune 20, 1996(1996-06-20) (aged 81)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US
OccupationMedical historian
TitleEmeritus Professor
SpouseCorinne Duffy
AwardsAmerican Association for the History of Medicine's Continuing Lifetime Achievement Award
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles (Ph.D.)
Thesis (1946)
Academic work
DisciplineHistory of Medicine
InstitutionsTulane University
University of Maryland
Notable worksFrom Humors to Medical Science (book)

John Duffy (1915–1996) was an American

epidemics.[1]

Early life and education

Duffy was born on March 27, 1915, in

University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1946.[1]

Career

Academia

Following completion of his doctorate, Duffy joined the faculty at

Northwestern State College of Louisiana initially teaching English and European history. His interests soon shifted to US History with a specialty in the history of medicine.[2]

Subsequently, Duffy's academic career included teaching at Louisiana State University (1953–1960), the

American Historical Review. He retired from academia in 1983 and returned to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he resided for the remainder of his retirement, continuing to write and publish works related to public health history.[1][2]

Publications

Duffy's first book, Epidemics in Colonial America, was published in 1953 with a subsequent edition released in 1972. The book describes the impact of disease as a significant determinant of the colonization of North America, in addition to famine and war. The book provides prospective on the various diseases that afflicted colonists.[3]

Subsequently, Duffy wrote and published: The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana (2 volumes, 1958 and 1962), Sword of Pestilence and The New Orleans Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853 (1966), A History of Public Health in New York City (2 volumes, 1968, 1974), The Tulane University Medical Center: 150 years of medical education (1984) and The Sanitarians, A History of American Public Health (1990).[2]

Duffy's book The Tulane University Medical Center: 150 years of medical education was commissioned by

Tulane University Medical Center.[4]

His best known book was The Healers (1976). The book describes the rise of modern medicine in the United States and the ways in which the rise was influenced by the impact of disease and pestilence, by demographic changes, and by scientific advances. It also describes the accompanying changes in medical education in the United States.[5] This book was substantially revised and the revised version was released in 1993 under the title of From Humors to Medical Science. Reviews of the book shortly after publication stated that Duffy's book was the most comprehensive historical account of medicine in the United States published up to that time.[6][7]

Duffy authored a significant number of scholarly journal articles. These included such subjects as: the history of medicine among

cholera and smallpox epidemics, the personal and societal impacts of masturbation and clitoridectomy, and medical ethics.[2]

Awards and honors

In 1991 the American Association for the History of Medicine gave Duffy its Lifetime Achievement Award for the History of Medicine.[8]

Duffy received the Literary Award of the Louisiana Library Association for the first volume of his two volume series, the Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana.[1]

Duffy was a University Fellow at UCLA in 1945–1946 and a Ford Fellow at Harvard University in 1951–1952. He was the Distinguished Alumnus of Northwestern State University in 1986. He also served for a time as president of the American Association for the History of Medicine and also the Washington Society for the History of Medicine.[1]

Death

Duffy died at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 20, 1996, where he had been living for the last nine years of his life.

emeritus professor at the University of Maryland and at Tulane University. At the time of his death, he was working on a review of the careers of female physicians in Louisiana.[1][2]

Representative publications

Books

  • Duffy, J. (1958). The Rudolph Matas history of medicine in Louisiana. vol 1. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press for the Rudolph Matas Trust Fund.
  • Duffy, J. (1962). The Rudolph Matas history of medicine in Louisiana. vol 2. 2. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press for the Rudolph Matas Trust Fund.
  • Duffy, J. (1966). Sword of Pestilence: The New Orleans Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853: Louisiana State University Press.
  • Duffy, J. (1968). A history of public health in New York City. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
  • Duffy, J. (1972). Epidemics in Colonial America: Kennikat Press.
  • Duffy, J. (1974). A history of public health in New York City, 1866–1966. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
  • Duffy, J. (1976). The healers : the rise of the medical establishment. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Duffy, J. (1984). The Tulane University Medical Center : 150 years of medical education. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
  • Duffy, J. (1990). The sanitarians : a history of American public health. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • Duffy, J. (1993). From humors to medical science : a history of American medicine. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Journal articles

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Medical Author John Duffy Dies In Baton Rouge At 81". New Orleans Times-Picayune. June 22, 1996. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Young, James Harvey. “In Memoriam: John Duffy.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 52, no. 2, 1997, pp. 254–255. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24624152.
  3. ^ Schumann, Larissa R. "Disease & Death in Early America". tullyhistoricalsociety.org. Tully (NY) Area Historical Society News. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  4. ISBN 0-8071-1195-3
    .
  5. PMID 17821797
    . Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  6. doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03520150093045
    . Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  7. ^ Brunner, Thomas N. "From Humors to Medical Science A History of American Medicine (book review)". press.ullinois.edu. University of Illinois Press. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Lifetime Achievement Award Winners". histmed.org. American Association for the History of Medicine. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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