Biographical essays on 56 remarkable individuals in the medical field are included in this book. Many of these figures are not well known outside of their own country, calling, or specialized field; some are famous, some infamous, but most were dedicated to a more egalitarian system of health care delivery. They are significant because of their ideas, diagnostic or therapeutic methods, writings, the institutions that they founded, and the impetus they imparted to their students. By integrating biographies of doctors, nurses, and practitioners of different time periods and different cultures, this book addresses the kinds of questions currently of interest to scholars and students. Profiles of individuals from different cultures and time periods provide a valuable perspective on changing patterns of health and disease and differences in medical philosophy.
Each profile focuses on one person's life and career, and the relationship of that individual's work to the universal quest for health and healing. Each profile's author has provided a bibliography and included, wherever possible, a guide to the archival materials available, works written by and about the individual, and recent scholarship concerning related topics to help readers find further information on subjects that pique their interest.