I'm thrilled that my new health humanities minor is now live, and even more thrilled that the incomparable @nataliapetrzela.bsky.social helped launch the program by delivering its inaugural lecture! 🗃️ #histmed seaver.pepperdine.edu/newsroom/art...

Can't wait to talk FIT NATION at Pepperdine! Join us IRL in Malibu on Tuesday for my public talk!

I'm so excited to welcome @nataliapetrzela.bsky.social to campus next week to help launch our new minor! The lecture is open to the public, so feel free to join if you're in the area! You can buy her book while here, too.

What was supposed to take one year has now taken five years (and counting) due to various obstacles. But artist Vinnie Bagwell is still proceeding with plans to install her "Victory" statue where James Marion Sims's statue once stood. #histmed 🗃️ www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Famous trainer Jillian Michaels announces support for MAHA: “[What] we’re not going to get from the government, you can create in your own life by taking agency.” My book on c19 health reform explores how agency became the watchword in US health. #histmed 🗃️ www.newsbreak.com/the-kansas-c...

“The foundation [of the curriculum] is traditional medicine but enhanced with the humanities and the arts to improve the delivery of care—so we improve on how we [act] with patients and how we partner with patients,” says Makhija. #histmed time.com/7303692/alic...

The EEOC is suing the Mayo Clinic for refusing an employee's request for a religious exemption to their vaccine mandate. It gets less fanfare these days, but folks are still processing and fighting over pandemic issues like mandates, religious liberty, etc. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

Do any of you brilliant #histmed teachers know of a nice narrative introduction to early nineteenth-century medicine? Something like a case study of a doctor or a patient? I'm looking for something for undergraduates. I have a separate story for medicine and slavery.🗃️

On the fiction that we're in total control of our health. Building on Nancy Tomes's history of patients becoming savvy consumers. #histmed 🗃️ hedgehogreview.com/issues/after...

Just like Christian bodybuilding, Christian diet culture abides. I would just add that its history stretches further back than the 1970s and Oral Roberts. In fact, I'm writing about its manifestation in the 1830s! 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/o...

American Christians have been blending bodybuilding and faith for more than a century. Here's a check-in with how they're faring these days, with insights from @paulputz.bsky.social. 🗃️ www.menshealth.com/fitness/a651...

Big news for #skystorians 🗃️: Zotero now supports CMOS 18.

A new survey shows that "congregation switching and ideological sorting" have increased among church-goers since the pandemic. Is this just a correlation, or did pandemic-inspired reflection cause people to make a change in their religious lives? baptistnews.com/article/post...

Based on how useful *The Book Proposal Book* was for me, I'm very much looking forward to this one!

#histmed 🗃️ job! jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings/53214

Is anyone working on the history of homeopathy? Or do you know scholars who have written about homeopathy recently? I could use some help... #histmed 🗃️

#histmed #skystorians: Do you have a favorite reading for introducing students to the *historical* nature of health and medicine? i.e. It's not just the march of science, but context matters. I find great snippets here and there, but I'm looking for a standalone reading. Case studies welcome. 🗃️

Can anyone make out the missing word? 🗃️ Doctor reflecting on seeing poor dispensary patients during the day and then going to fancy parties with the wealthy at night. "surroundings of wealth and the luxury have made me [something] for a time and moralize upon the different phases of human life."

Do any #histsci #histmed #skystorians have experience researching at the National Library of Medicine? Do you know if they offer scanning services? 🗃️

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ThreeTT jobs in history of medicine, science, and environment at Texas State University. One in Public history jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings/sea...

I wonder if this model could be generalized to work on nineteenth-century American handwriting more broadly?

PLEASE SHARE: We just posted an ad for TWO research assistant positions on @pewresearch.org's religion team. We expect a lot of applications so it's best to apply this week for full consideration. Come work with our great team! pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

As far as I can tell, collaboration has shaped the interaction of medicine and religion as much as secularization. Both strains weave their way through the history. 🗃️ "Georgetown Launches Faith-Health Commission To Strengthen Trust in Health Systems" www.georgetown.edu/news/georget...

What are the chances a #skystorian has already visited the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to scan George Wood's transcribed diary? 🗃️ We really need a way to avoid repeating the same work over and over again. discover.hsp.org/Record/ead-A...

I'm really, really looking forward to reading the latest from @judithweisenfeld.com! It's almost certainly going on my Medicine and Religion syllabus. 🗃️ #histsci religionnews.com/2025/05/12/a...

Check it out, #skystorians! 🗃️

I’m thrilled that my new book from @yalepress.bsky.social was officially published this week. Thanks to all the students, colleagues, archivists, and librarians who helped along the way.

What is the US Institute of Peace? A little history about the independent organization shows why the US should continue to invest in peace. www.ocregister.com/2025/05/08/g...

I should add that New Thought folks often cared a great deal about diet, just like Means. They were trying to prime their bodies for divine energy. 🗃️ R. Marie Griffith covers this well in *Born Again Bodies.* www.ucpress.edu/books/born-a...

The latest pick for Surgeon General seems to echo the New Thought movement. 🗃️ “Perhaps the body is simply the material ‘radio receiver’ through which we can ‘tune in’ to the divine." “Humans are out of alignment with the Earth and depleting its life force." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Can any Skystorians help me decipher a word? "the condition of med[icine] in this country and the means of advancing it [???]." What's the missing word? From a letter written by a physician in Philadelphia in 1824. 🗃️

The WHO has finalized its pandemic treaty -- albeit without the participation of the United States. The idea is to share more information, supplies, and technology around the world if/when the next one comes around. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I'm excited to share my JHMAS review of *Critical Approaches to Science and Religion,* edited by Myrna Perez Sheldon, Ahmed Ragab, Terence Keel. 🗃️ track.smtpsendmail.com/9032119/c?p=...

This is a wild story. A generation earlier, Sylvester Graham complained about additives, like plaster of Paris, in commercial flour. Apparently it was a tradition for bakers to improve their margins by adulterating their ingredients. 🗃️

Another great episode from Throughline, this time tracing the history of health insurance in the US from workers' cooperatives to Medicare. 🗃️ Featuring Paul Starr himself. www.npr.org/2025/02/27/1...

How a nineteenth-century doctor burns you for delivering boring lectures. 🗃️

What a remarkable life, career, and legacy. 🗃️ "He authored more than sixty books, hundreds of scholarly articles, and countless essays, columns, and forewords for other books." All while living boldly, from observing Vatican II to marching in Selma.

The time Sylvester Graham got into an argument with a doctor during one of his lectures, calling the doctor "a stupid blockhead" for opposing vegetarianism. 🗃️

What educators can learn from Sojourner Truth about teaching diversity in politically fraught times. 🗃️ Another helpful article from my favorite political theorist ;) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The latest episode of NPR's Throughline offers a helpful history of the anti-vaccination movement since polio. It eschews a simplistic moral tale and, instead, does what history should: explores context and causation. I'm considering using this in class next semester! 🗃️ www.npr.org/2025/02/13/1...

One of the things driving Americans towards DIY or alternative medicine, says @catherinetan.bsky.social, is the failure of the American healthcare system itself. www.newsweek.com/americans-ar...

Leader of CCIH: "How is PEPFAR against the values of America? Innovation and excellence are American values. Mercy and compassion for those who suffer are American values. Justice for those who are vulnerable is an American value...What’s un-American here?" religionnews.com/2025/01/29/s...

Nineteenth-century physician Rene La Roche says he saw "one of the brightest luminaries of American medicine" get into a street fight with another doctor. I want to know who he's talking about!

Mark Humphries argues that with the release of deep research tools, historians can no longer afford to ignore AI in the hope that it'll go away. Instead, they need to engage, scrutinize, and direct the development and use of these tools. 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/generati...

Healthcare sharing ministries have been growing since the passage of Obamacare, and more people are taking notice. @dylanlscott.bsky.social says the ministries may be secularizing as they grow. Will that erode the religious freedom grounds on which they're built? www.vox.com/future-perfe...

How an anti-establishment posture attracts wellness influencers to RFK, Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" campaign. Since the Thomsonians of the 1820s, virtuous outsiders vs. devious insiders has proven a powerful narrative for explaining our health troubles. 🗃️ www.popsugar.com/health/make-...

The backlash to pandemic-era policies continues. "Vaccination bills are popping up in more than 15 states as lawmakers aim to potentially resurrect or create new religious exemptions from immunization mandates..." shorturl.at/FfcZA

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Season 2 of the BBC/Novel podcast I host and EP! Another gripping story of humans pushing their bodies to their limits and in the process, revealing much about human nature and the world we live in. Trailer live now! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

🗃️ My friend @suzzzanna.bsky.social has written a "scandalous" book, DISGRACED: HOW SEX SCANDALS TRANSFORMED AMERICAN PROTESTANTISM (see what I did there). Pub date is Jan 17, 2025, available for pre-order. Order discounted copy 30% off (code: AUFLY30)* Rd one chapter for FREE until Feb 13, 2025**