On Medicine & Classicism from a Comparative Perspective
David Arnold and Peter Pormann (University of Warwick) have recorded a wonderful podcast to accompany their upcoming conference (program available here as a PDF) at the Warburg Institute.  Here is the description of the podcast: Medical systems often resorted to constructing a classical past in order to shape and legitimise current medical theory and practice. This wish to forge a classical tradition appears to be a

On Normative Priorities in HIV/AIDS
Dan Brock and Dan Wikler (Harvard), both of whom have recommended in recent years a shift to what they term "population-based bioethics," have a new article out in Health Affairs entitled Ethical Challenges In Long-Term Funding For HIV/AIDS.  Here is the Abstract: The global response to the AIDS pandemic aims for universal access to treatment and for pursuing every possible avenue to prevention. Skeptics, doubting that the huge increases in current funding levels needed for universal treatment will ever happen, wo

Lapham's Quarterly, Vol. II, no. 4 (Fall 2009): Medicine
The publishers of Lapham's Quarterlywere kind enough to send me a review copy (gratis) of the Fall 2009 issue, which is on the theme of medicine.  Founded by Lewis Lapham, editor emeritus of Harper's Magazine, the magazine's editorial board features a who's who of fascinating scholars and writers, including but not limited to Noga Arikha, Anthony Grafton, Theodore Rabb, and Simon Winchester. Clocking in at a robust 221 pages, the full issue has taken me some time to read and digest, but it is truly a treasure trove for the m

On Mental Health of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America
From the open text BMC family of journals comes a terrible but compelling article published in BMC International Health & Human Rights.  The article is authored by Mario Incayawar and Sioui Maldonado-Bouchard, and is entitled The Forsaken Mental Health of the Indigenous Peoples - A Moral Case of Outrageous Exclusion in Latin America. Here is the Abstract: Background Mental health is neglected i

On the Painless Brain
One of my favorite journals, Perspectives on Biology & Medicine, has published its autumn issue, TOC available here.  Among