|
2013 is the 200th anniversary year of
the birth of John Snow and will be celebrated at public events at
York University 200 miles north of London in the town where he was
born and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in
the city where his epidemiological work was carried out.
Smaller events such as a historical walk in Snow’s
footsteps through parts of London where cholera was investigated
and a public lecture about Snow’s contributions to anesthesia at
the Old Operating Theatre Museum are also on the drawing boards.
In the United States, the anniversary will be
celebrated in more low key fashion at the closed annual meeting of
the American Epidemiological Society at Michigan State University
in East Lansing.
Using the Internet, many other special events are
being planned including a webinar, “Tweet fest”, countdown,
raffle, and logo doodle contest with the Epi Monitor.
Here are the details of these events and happenings
as we understand them now:
1. March 15, 2013 All day
event “The Legacy of John Snow: York’s
Famous Son”
This day long celebration sponsored by the
Department of Health Sciences at York University will take place
at the Park Inn on North Street in York. According to Hilary
Graham, chair of the sponsoring Department, the address of the
Park Inn on North Street is the presumed same spot on North Street
where Snow was born exactly 200 years ago on March 15, 1813. The
program will feature four speakers covering the times in 19th
century England when Snow lived, his contributions on cholera and
anesthesia, and a presentation tracing Snow’s long term legacy in
public health.
According to Professor Graham, Snow is strangely unknown in his
own land and is an example of how no man is a prophet in his own
village. “You could read a 400 page history of York without once
coming across a reference to Snow,” Graham told the Monitor. She
added, ‘it is deeply shocking”.
In remarks to a
local paper, Graham had this to offer
“Our civic traditions mean we are very good at
celebrating battles and kings found under car parks, but John
Snow’s contribution was felt around the world. I think one day is
a small contribution to make to public acknowledgement of his
tremendous achievements.”
Because one of the main purposes of the event in
York is to make Snow better appreciated in his hometown, the event
is being publicized locally by the organizers.
For more details, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/cjxbr7f
2. March
15-16, 2013 Evening lecture and day long
meeting “Mapping Disease: John Snow and
Cholera”
These events
will be held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
in the John Snow Lecture Theatre on the anniversary date of Snow’s
birth. Because of the busy academic calendar on weekdays at the
London School at this time of the year, the events will be held on
a Friday evening and Saturday.
The evening
public lecture will be given by Sandra Hempel, an author of
two books about Snow, and followed by a reception.
The full day
program will be focused on historical aspects of Snow’s work on
cholera presented by 7 invited speakers including well-known names
in epidemiology such as George Davey-Smith and
Jan Vandenbroucke.
3. April 11-12, 2013
Two-day conference with dinner and pub visit
“Snow’s Legacy: Epidemiology Today and Tomorrow”
The program for this two day conference is “more
contemporary, more adventurous”, according to the London School’s
Paul Fine, one of the organizers of the conference. In
planning the conference, Fine and others talked to many colleagues
to learn the names of persons who are applying epidemiology in
surprising and interesting ways to tackle a range of problems, and
not only
those in the health domain.
For example,
criminologists and economists are now using epidemiologic methods
very similar to those being used by epidemiologists on health
problems, and one of the hopes for the conference Fine told the
Monitor is to get participants talking across disciplines.
‘We hope to open some minds, get some ideas, and have some fun,”
said Fine about the conference.
More than 20
speakers are slated to present at the two day conference including
well-known epidemiologists such as Nigel Paneth, Cesar
Victora, Ken Rothman, David Heymann, Richard
Peto, and many others. Among the unexpected topics perhaps
will be Gary Slutkin on treating violence as an epidemic
disease, Robert May on the epidemiology of financial
networks, Carole Torgerson on trials in education research,
and Angus Deaton on trials in economic development. Not the
usual fare at epidemiology meetings.
A panel debate
with audience participation is scheduled on the topic of data
access---a sparring about the benefits of access vs those of
privacy and confidentiality.
Social highlights of the conference will be a
dinner at the Wellcome Trust where the after dinner topic will be
“Bad Science” presented by science writer/epidemiologist Ben
Goldacre who is well-known for books and a regular column on
this topic in the Guardian, and a visit to the John Snow pub at
the end of the second conference day. Again, not the usual ending
for an epidemiology meeting.
4. March 15,
2013 Lecture
“John
Snow—Anesthesia’s First Scientist—A 200th Anniversary
Celebration”
This event will
feature a lecture by Drs Adrian Padfield and David Zuck
which has one of the more intriguing names of any event scheduled
so far. The lecture is entitled “John Snow and the Grizzly Bears”
and will feature Snow’s contributions to anesthesia and medicine.
The venue will
be at the Old Operating Theatre Museum which includes an old
operating room and herb garret in the roof space of an old English
church.
http://tinyurl.com/cgng6ku
5. March 10,
13, and 20 Three two-hour walking tours
“Death by
Water: John Snow and Cholera In Victorian Soho”
Three walking tours will be guided by medical
historian Richard Barnett for what is billed as “a walking
tour of dirt, disease, pleasure, and revolution in the grubby West
End.” The events are free and will begin at the Wellcome
Collection location in London
To book a tour,
visit:
http://tinyurl.com/cmj9mrc
6. March 13-17
April, 2013 A month long exhibition “Cartographies of Life
and Death—John Snow & Disease Mapping
According to the
John Snow Bicentenary website:
http://tinyurl.com/cul7xto
the exhibition
will contain historical treasures and commissioned artworks. Entry
is free. Also, an
evening of films, audio, readings and talks on water quality and
infrastructure in London after John Snow
entitled “London Flows”
will take place
on March 26 under the leadership of the UCL Urban Laboratory
http://tinyurl.com/cozywpb
7. March 21-22 Scientific session and
Langmuir Lecture “Snow Day”
This event will
feature a series of talks on Friday morning at the annual meeting
of the American Epidemiological Society at Michigan State
University in East Lansing Michigan. Several abstracts have been
accepted on various topics related to John Snow including ones by
two Michigan State’s Snow biographers Nigel Paneth entitled
“Mode of Communication—The Central Focus of Epidemiology?” and
Steve Rachman entitled “Our Sense of Snow, Epidemiology and
Popular Culture”. Paneth will also be speaking at the two day
conference in London on “The Singular Science of John Snow”.
The Langmuir
Lecture will be given by USC’s Jonathan Samet and is
entitled "From John Snow to Today:
Going from Data to Policy” Attendance at the AES meeting
is restricted to members of the AES and their guests.
8. March 12, 2013-12:00
Online Webcast/Seminar “Celebrating the
Life of Dr. John Snow”
The online seminar is designed to attract those
people interested in the life of Dr. John Snow who cannot make it
to the on-site celebrations in York and London England. People who
register will be able to listen to presentations, view slides and
participate through a question and answer forum. The program will
be captured and posted on line as a podcast after the event.
The speakers will include:
Michael J. McGuire,
MJM, Inc. “Legacy of Dr. John Snow: Water Filtration and
Chlorination in the U.S. during the 20th Century
Steve Via, American Water Works Association, “Dr. John
Snow: Impact on U.S. Regulation of Drinking Water”
Lindsay Olson,
Artist, “Raising Awareness About Wastewater Through Art: Dr. John
Snow and Cholera”
TBD, “Miasma and Death by Cholera: Dr. John Snow and the Dawn of
the Germ Theory of Disease”
Date and Time: March 12, 2013—12:00 noon to 3:00
pm EST
Location and Web Hosting: TBD, Check Twitter at #BroadStPump
or blog at Safedrinkingwater.com
(Google it) for instructions on how to register
(free).
9. February 14-March 15, 2013
A Countdown
“Thirty-Days To The Bicentenary Of Dr. John Snow’s
Birth”
Everyone loves a countdown. Thirty Days of #DrJohnSnow
uses Twitter and blog posts on
http://Safedrinkingwaterdot.com
to inform the participants. The countdown explores
interesting aspects of the life of Dr. John Snow and alerts the
readers to fun and interesting things to do to learn more about
his contributions to public health. Material from Snow websites
and the three biographies of Snow are used liberally on the blog.
Date: Started on February 14, ends on March 15, 2013
Location: Daily postings on Twitter—follow these
hashtags #DrJohnSnow and #BroadStPump. Read daily updates on the
blog Safedrinkingwaterdotcom
10. March 15, 2013 Tweet Fest
“Gather ‘Round the #BroadStPump’”
A group of engineers and scientists are celebrating
the life of #DrJohnSnow gathering ‘round the virtual #BroadStPump
on March 15, 2013 to participate in a Tweet fest.
Anyone can join. All you have to do is compose a tweet (<140
characters) with a comment on Dr. Snow’s life or legacy. Include
the hashtags #DrJohnSnow or #BroadStPump and Twitter will compile
all of the tweets in one location.
Date and Time: March 15, 2013; Time TBD
Location: Twitter—use hashtags #DrJohnSnow or #BroadStPump
11. From Today Until March 15
Write In Campaign
“Ask Google to Honor Dr. Snow With A Doodle”
Hundreds of John Snow enthusiasts have sent emails
to Google (proposals@google.com)
to ask that they create a doodle honoring Dr. Snow on March 15.
Doodles are explained in this link:
http://tinyurl.com/cbmqxvl
12. Now until March 15 Contest The Snow EpiDoodle Design
Competition
Whatever happens with Google the in campaign
described above, The Epidemiology Monitor Facebook page cover
image (the teal blue image at the top of our Facebook page) at: www.Facebook.com/epiMonitor
is something the epidemiology community has more say about.
We are holding a contest for the best “doodle”
rendering of “epimonitor” received by March 15th
which honors Snow. The winning doodle will temporarily
replace our cover image on March 15th or as soon
thereafter as is practicable.
Interested
readers should submit their sketches and ideas to
contest@epimonitor.net
. A digital image in .jpg, .bmp, .gif or Word document format and
a written description of the reasoning behind the design are
required for all valid entries. All entries become property of
the Epidemiology Monitor. We reserve the right to rework any
sketches submitted and reject any entry judged not suitable for
our publication.
The creator of the winning entry will receive
a $250
prize and a free copy of the original edition of
“Cholera, Chloroform, and the Science of Medicine.” Contact our
digital editor at:
digital@epimonitor.net
for questions.
13. By May 1, 2013 Raffle “Free Books
On Snow”
The Epidemiology Monitor has 12 original editions
of the book on John Snow entitled “Cholera, Chloroform, and the
Science of Medicine”. One of the authors, Nigel Paneth,
told the Monitor that the original edition was published on a high
quality paper and reveals the text and content most vividly.
To
enter the raffle, 1) submit the email addresses of 10 or more
epidemiology and/or public health colleagues who want to obtain a
free subscription to the Epidemiology Monitor newsletter here:
http://tinyurl.com/axjk6t7
or
2) submit a paid advertisement for any job, book, or event/meeting
to:
Books:
ron.aron@epimonitor.net
Jobs: http://tinyurl.com/bt9hcww
Events:
http://tinyurl.com/c2bccrf
We will raffle off these 12 copies among all entrants. We will
include your name once for each set of 10 names you submit, and
your name 10 times for each ad purchased. To improve your chances,
submit more names or ads.
Reader
Comments:
Have a thought or comment
on this story ? Fill out the information below and we'll
post it on this page once it's been reviewed by our editors.
|