Ateneo - UPO

The course traces the evolution of medicine from ancient civilizations to the twentieth century, examining key concepts of health and disease, scientific discoveries, and advances in therapy and surgery. It also explores the development of medical professions, healthcare institutions and hospitals, major epidemics throughout history, and sources for studying medicine in the past.

Giuffra V., Fornaciari G., La storia della medicina: dagli Egizi al XX secolo.

To provide foundational knowledge of the evolution of medicine and its relationship to cultural, social, and scientific contexts, with particular attention to changing concepts of health and disease, major scientific discoveries, and the development of healthcare practices.

No prerequisites are required.

Lectures
Articles provided by the lecturer.

The lecturer is available by appointment

Written exam on computer

Sources for the history of medicine. Fundamentals of paleopathology. Iconodiagnostics. Ancient Egyptian medicine. Greek and Hellenistic medicine. Roman medicine. Claudius Galen. Medieval European medicine. Arabic medicine. The Salerno Medical School and the emergence of universities. Renaissance medicine. The anatomical revolution: Andreas Vesalius. Paracelsus and iatrochemistry. William Harvey and the discovery of blood circulation. The iatromechanical and iatrochemical schools and the quantitative approach to medicine. Medicine and surgery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Medical systems. Pathological anatomy: Giovanni Battista Morgagni. Edward Jenner and vaccination. The emergence of experimental physiology in France and Germany: François Magendie and Claude Bernard. Cell theory and the development of cellular pathology: Rudolf Virchow. The microbiological revolution: Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. Advances in surgery: anesthesia and antisepsis. The emergence of medical specialties. The therapeutic revolution in the first half of the twentieth century. Major medical discoveries in the second half of the twentieth century. The history of hospitals from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. Major epidemics throughout history.

Students will be able to identify the main stages in the development of medical knowledge, understand changes in concepts of health and disease, and place major discoveries and transformations in healthcare practices within their historical context.