Dr Leo McCarthy, Emeritus Professor of Pathology Medicine and Paediatrics at Indiana University, presented and sponsored a special medical award at the College. The McCarthy Award was established by the College to encourage researchers to delve into medicine’s history.
The aim of the McCarthy Award is to support and develop the study of the history of medicine, and to recognise excellence in this field. This award is open to all researchers in the history of medicine, or related social and cultural history fields, from either the United Kingdom or overseas.
This year’s winner was Dr Kristin Hussey, an American curator working in London, for her research on the Scottish doctor Sir Patrick Manson (1844–1922). Kristen surprised the audience at the competition’s final by revealing that Manson, an expert in tropical diseases, carried out experiments on malarial mosquitos in the attic of his London home.
Dr McCarthy has had close links with the College since 1983, when he was made a fellow while studying at the University of Edinburgh.
Iain Milne, Head of Heritage, said:
We are very grateful to Leo for sponsoring this award and to all the competition entrants - our medical past has shaped our medical present and learning from both the positive changes and the missteps in our history can help us understand how we work now, and how we develop in the future.
