Target Audience

Des Moines University faculty, staff, and students.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize the key developments in public health response to leprosy (Hansen's disease) during the late 19th or early 20th century.
2. Differentiate between the cultural, scientific, and medical factors contributing to the widespread adoption (or resistance to) germ theory.
3. Weigh cultural frameworks' role in social responses to infectious diseases, especially among present-day neglected tropical diseases.

Speaker

Mark Lambert, PhD
Assistant Professor, Behavioral Medicine, Medical Humanities and Bioethics, Des Moines University

Dr. Lambert’s teaching and research have crossed the traditional boundaries of bioethics, indigenous studies, the history of medicine, and religious studies. Focusing on leprosy (Hansen’s disease) and its modern history in the United States, especially in Hawai’i, Dr. Lambert studies the impact of stigmatizing diseases—HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and neglected tropical diseases—upon already marginalized communities.

Having grown up in Kirksville, MO, Dr. Lambert is very familiar with osteopathic medicine and is eager to pursue new research on the historical development of osteopathy, especially regarding A.T. Still’s familiarity with Native American therapeutics and the medical epistemology of the Shawnee. Full biography.