Martin S. Pernick, Ph.D.
Martin S. Pernick is Professor of History in LS&A, and Associate Director of the Medical School Program in Society and Medicine.
Professor Pernick specializes in the history of ethical and other value issues in disease and medicine, and the history of relations between medicine and mass culture. His first book, A Calculus of Suffering (1985), examines professional and cultural responses to pain in 19th century America. His most recent book, The Black Stork (1996), documents the forgotten history of eugenics and euthanasia in early 20th century American medicine and mass media. He is currently completing a book on changing concepts of death from the 1740s the present, and a study of motion pictures in early 20th century public health.He received a Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University, and prior to coming to Michigan in 1979, he taught at Harvard School of Public Health and at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center.
Historical Health Film Collection
Prof. Pernick created and administers a research collection of 167 rare early motion pictures, films originally made for lay audiences on all aspects of health and disease. The collection focusses on movies produced from 1910-30, but it includes materials from 1897-1955. These films are currently available for research use at the University of Michigan.
|
