Health of the Commonwealth

A Roundtable Discussion on the History of Disease and Public Health in Pennsylvania

Tuesday | 30 March 2021 | 6:00 PM

From long before the infamous Yellow Fever outbreak of 1793 to the current Covid-19 pandemic, the threat of disease has always been a fact of life for Pennsylvanians whether they realized it at the time or not. Throughout its history, the Keystone State has played an important role in the development of medical science and the advancement of public health practices. On the other hand, residents have often debated the best way to respond to disease with a wide range of alternate practices existing alongside the allopathic approach. In this session, a panel of experts discuss these issues and others that appear in The Health of the Commonwealth: A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania that was published in 2020 as part of the PHA’s Pennsylvania History Series.

The panelists include:

Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward (moderator) is a Professor of History at Shippensburg University. He is co-editor of the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s Pennsylvania History Series.

Dr. James Higgins is a Lecturer in History at Rider University. He is the author of The Health of the Commonwealth: A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania, part of the Pennsylvania History Series (Pennsylvania Historical Association and Temple University Press, 2020).

Dr. Andrew Simpson is an Assistant Professor of History at Duquesne University. He is the author of The Medical Metropolis: Health Care and Economic Transformation in Pittsburgh and Houston (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019).

Dr. Karol Weaver is a Professor of History at Susquehanna University. Her most recent book is Medical Caregiving and Identity in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region, 1880-2000 (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011).