William Helfand
William Helfand, award-winning medical historian, writer and collector, will present the first Heberden Society Lecture for the 2005-2006 academic year on Thursday, November 17, at 5:00 p.m. in Uris Faculty Room (A-126) at Weill Cornell Medical College. The title of his lecture will be "Quackery: An Illustrated History." The lecture is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Mr. Helfand, a retired pharmaceutical executive, is the author of five books, including "Pharmacy: An Illustrated History" (with David Cowan); "The Picture of Health," published by the University of Pennsylvania Press; and "Quack, Quack, Quack," a catalogue of recent exhibitions at the Grolier Club and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a consultant to the National Library of Medicine, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, president of the Library Company of Philadelphia, a member of the Council of the Grolier Club of New York, and a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Association of the History of Medicine.
The Heberden Society was established at the Medical Center in 1975 by a group of medical interns and residents who were interested in promoting the history of medicine. The society sponsors three lectures during each academic year. The society is named after Sir William Heberden the younger (1767-1845), who served as physician to King George III of England in his last days. King George III was the sovereign who granted the charter for The New York Hospital in 1771.
Photo by Graydon Wood.