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Scott Harris Podolsky, M.D.

Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Director of Center for the History of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Affiliate of the Department of History of Science, Faculty of Arts & Sciences
617-724-3346

Dr. Podolsky is Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 2006, he has served as the director of the Center for the History of Medicine based at the Countway Medical Library.

Dr. Podolsky graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in history and science. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School.

Affiliation:

Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Medical Library

History of 19th- and 20th-century therapeutics and medical evolution, with a focus on the history of antibiotics, the evolving authority of the controlled clinical trial, and relationships among physicians, medical journals, the pharmaceutical industry, and governmental agencies.

Dr. Podolsky has co-authored Generation of Diversity: Clonal Selection Theory and the Rise of Molecular Immunology (1997), authored Pneumonia before Antibiotics: Therapeutic Evolution and Evaluation in Twentieth-Century America (2006), co-edited Oliver Wendell Holmes: Physician and Man of Letters (2009), and most recently authored The Antibiotic Era: Reform, Resistance, and the Pursuit of a Rational Therapeutics (2015).

Waves of attention: patterns and themes of international antimicrobial resistance reports, 1945-2020.
Authors: Authors: Overton K, Fortané N, Broom A, Raymond S, Gradmann C, Orubu ESF, Podolsky SH, Rogers Van Katwyk S, Zaman MH, Kirchhelle C.
BMJ Glob Health
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The 'personal equation' as observer bias, and proposed methods to contain it in Anglo-American medicine.
Authors: Authors: Brinkmann R, Podolsky SH.
J R Soc Med
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Mask Wars.
Authors: Authors: Jones DS, Podolsky SH.
N Engl J Med
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Puncturing Hubris … and Insularity: The 1942 Yellow Fever Vaccine Disaster and COVID-19.
Authors: Authors: Podolsky SH.
Am J Public Health
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William A. Hinton (1883-1959): Diagnosing and Confronting Racism in the Medical Profession.
Authors: Authors: Rodríguez Á, Lensch MW, Podolsky SH.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities
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Richard Cabot, pair-matched random allocation, and the attempt to compare like with like in the social sciences and medicine. Part 2: the context of medicine and public health.
Authors: Authors: Podolsky SH, Welsh BC, Zane SN.
J R Soc Med
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Richard Cabot, pair-matched random allocation, and the attempt to compare like with like in the social sciences and medicine. Part 1: the context of the social sciences.
Authors: Authors: Welsh BC, Podolsky SH, Zane SN.
J R Soc Med
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From the Editor's Desk: Medicine Past and Present.
Authors: Authors: Ehrenberger KA, Podolsky S, Bates CK.
J Gen Intern Med
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Setting the standard: multidisciplinary hallmarks for structural, equitable and tracked antibiotic policy.
Authors: Authors: Kirchhelle C, Atkinson P, Broom A, Chuengsatiansup K, Ferreira JP, Fortané N, Frost I, Gradmann C, Hinchliffe S, Hoffman SJ, Lezaun J, Nayiga S, Outterson K, Podolsky SH, Raymond S, Roberts AP, Singer AC, So AD, Sringernyuang L, Tayler E, Rogers Van Katwyk S, Chandler CIR.
BMJ Glob Health
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Biomedical Research in Times of Emergency: Lessons From History.
Authors: Authors: Doroshow D, Podolsky S, Barr J.
Ann Intern Med
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