Dr. Howard Kushner

The first scholar to hold the Nat C. Robertson Distinguished Professorship in Science and Society was Dr. Howard Kushner, Historian of Medicine at San Diego State and UC-SD. He began at Emory during the academic year starting in Fall 2000.

Currently, a professor in the Emory’s Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts (ILA) and the Behavioral Science and Health Education department of the School of Public Health, Dr. Kushner considers himself to be “applied historian of medicine.” He described his breath of interests in a 2003 edition of the Emory Academic Exchange. (Click here.)

Dr. Kushner gave his initial talk at Emory in the Spring of 1999 entitled "Solving Medical Mysteries: A Case for Reuniting Science and Society." In his talk, Kushner used a number of case studies from his own work, including that on Tourette's Syndrome and Kawasaki's Disease, to demonstrate how essential it is for scientists to work as a team with scholars from the Social Sciences and Humanities in order to fully understand a disease or any scientific problem. The talk was attended by over 150 people from across the Emory and greater Atlanta community.

Copyright 2006, Emory College, Program in Science & Society
Contact: Jim Wynn at jrwynn@emory.edu