Musical and theatrical shows by students have a long tradition at Weill Cornell Medicine.  Throughout the college’s history, medical and nursing students performed plays, skits, and musical numbers for the entertainment of their peers and professors.  As an example of one type of performance, the first annual Christmas Review Show in 1958 featured funny skits and musical numbers.  In the photograph depicted above, students from the class of 1976 practice singing for the Christmas Review Show in 1973.  Today students still enjoy an annual show, which is now held in the spring!

John Galsworthy (1867-1933), recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for literature, was one of the best-selling authors of the twentieth century. While his name has become synonymous with The Forsyte Saga, the epic sequence of novels and “interludes” about the upper-middle-class Forsyte family, his literary reputation belies his humanitarianism during the Great War supporting British and American soldiers disabled in combat.

As caricature evolved from its origins as a practice designed to liberate artists from the constraints of Renaissance Idealism into a tool for social satire and commentary, medicine emerged quickly as one of its favorite topics. This talk will turn to the obsessive interest in medicine on the part of 17th- and 18th-century caricature as a way of exploring the development of a uniquely rich and unlikely interrelationship on the eve of modern medicine and the emergence of cartooning in its modern form.

Mental health treatment has changed over time, reflecting new studies, research, and societal concerns. Proponents of the moral managent philosophy, one of the mental health treatments which emerged in the late 18th century, advocated for the humane treatment of patients.  Physical restraints were removed, clean and pleasant surroundings were created, and patients were encouraged to engage in recreational activities, manual labor, religious services, and amusements.  

Dr. Fritz Fuchs was an internationally known obstetrician and gynecologist who, along with his colleague, Povi Riis, was the first to use amniocentesis for detecting the sex of a fetus in Demark in 1955. This led to the eventual use of amniocentesis procedure to detect genetic disorders in fetuses.

Indian inventor, mentor, and researcher Dr. Brij Saxena was a pioneer in the field of reproductive endocrinology. In 1966, he was recruited by Nobel Laureate Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud to join Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine) as an associate professor. Dr. Saxena’s research included the isolation of the lutropin receptor, which contributed to the development of ovulation detection and the first reliable early home pregnancy test in 1978. Among other research efforts, in the new millennium, Dr.

Finnish endocrinologist and educator Anna-Riitta Fuchs was renowned in the field of reproductive medicine. She worked as a scientist for the Population Council at Rockefeller University in the 1960s, where she discovered that the hormone oxytocin was blocked by the use of ethanol in rabbits. In 1971 she joined the faculty of Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine) as an assistant professor in research. She continued researching premature labor with her husband, Dr. Fritz Fuchs, and rose to the level of professor in 1986.

Nobel Laureate Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud pioneered research in oxytocin during his long career at Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine.) Oxytocin, a polypeptide hormone, is responsible for social bonding during sex, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It also produces breast milk and the contractions of the uterus during labor. Dr. du Vigneaud was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for landmark research in sulfur compounds and the first synthesis of oxytocin in 1955. His work opened new research in the field of protein organic chemistry.

Scottish scientist John MacLeod was a leading expert in male infertility and the behavior of the human spermatozoa. In 1938 he received an offer to head the male infertility clinic at Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine), and later became a professor of cell biology and anatomy.