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2016-2017 Gyorgyey Fellows

June 15, 2016 - 2:18pm by Andy Hickner

The Medical Historical Library, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, is pleased to announce the following recipients of the Ferenc Gyorgyey Research Travel Award for 2016-2017: Whitney Wood, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birbeck, University of London A New Way to Birth?  Herbert Thoms and the International Natural Childbirth Movement Whitney Wood’s research explores the natural childbirth movement in Canada.  As part of this research, Wood will be examining the Herbert Thoms papers (https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ru.0656), as Thoms was an international leader in the movement and produced quite a bit of material on the topic of natural childbirth. Whitney Wood is planning to come to the Medical Historical Library in Spring 2017. Erin Travers, Doctoral Candidate, History of Art and Architecture, University of California, Santa Barbara Boundaries of the Body: The Art of the Anatomy in the Seventeenth-Century Netherlands Erin Travers will be examining Dutch anatomies, particularly Jacob van der Gracht’s drawing book, Anatomie der wtterlicke deelen van het menschelick lichaem.  These anatomies form the basis of her dissertation.  She will at the Medical Historical Library July 18th-23rd, 2016. Many thanks to the selection committee: John Warner and John Gallagher.

"Harvey Cushing and John Fulton: Two Founders Bonded By Science, Medicine, And Books": Full video of June 3 event now online

June 9, 2016 - 9:14am by Andy Hickner

On June 3, 2016 the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library hosted a talk titled "Harvey Cushing and John Fulton: Two Founders Bonded By Science, Medicine, And Books."  The focus of this event was a conversation between Drs. Dennis D. Spencer and Gordon M. Shepherd, moderated by Cynthia Tsay, YSM ’18. The panel spoke about the personal and professional relationship of these men, and touched upon the founding of the Yale Medical Library and how they worked together to make it a reality.   At the post-lecture reception, we also took a few photos of attendees with Harvey Cushing himself: Dr. Cushing's great-grandson, Harvey Cushing Dr. Frank Lobo and Sharon McManus Dr. Dennis Spencer and Harvey Cushing Library Curator of Prints and Drawings Susan Wheeler L to R: John Gallagher, Cushing's great-great-grandson Kevin Cushing, Dr. Gordon Shepherd, Cushing's granddaughter Kate Whitney, Dr. Dennis Spencer, Cynthia Tsay

Spotlight on Humanities in Medicine Collection

June 8, 2016 - 4:39pm by Alyssa Grimshaw

Spotlight on the Humanities in Medicine Collection Check out the newest book in the Humanities in Medicine Collection, The Gene: An Intimate History. Excerpt from the book cover: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information? Siddhartha Mukherjee has a written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—cuts like a bright, red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world. In superb prose and with an instinct for the dramatic scene, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome. As The New Yorker said of The Emperor of All Maladies, “It’s hard to think of many books for a general audience that have rendered any area of modern science and technology with such intelligence, accessibility, and compassion…An extraordinary achievement.” Riveting, revelatory, and magisterial history of a scientific idea coming to life, and an essential preparation for the moral complexity introduced by our ability to create or “write” the human genome, The Gene is a must-read for everyone concerned about the definition and future of humanity. This is the most crucial science of our time, intimately explained by a master. Humanities in Medicine Collection is located across from the Circulation Desk.

Cushing/Whitney Medical Library welcomes our new director, John Gallagher

May 10, 2016 - 1:23pm by Andy Hickner

  The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is delighted to announce the appointment of our new director, John Gallagher. John joined the staff of the Yale Library in 1999 as a library services assistant in the Library Shelving Facility. He moved to the Medical Library in 2000 where he took the position of evening & weekend circulation supervisor, and was quickly promoted to the head of the circulation department. After completion of his Masters of Library Science in 2004, John was promoted again to the head of Access and Delivery Services. He was instrumental in pioneering and establishing the Scan on Demand service at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, which evolved into the Scan and Deliver service for the wider Yale Library system. He served as the library liaison to the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and co-chaired the library’s joint Department Committee for Best Practices, a university-wide initiative to foster and promote better management/labor relations and collaboration through interest-based problem solving. During this time, John also chaired a management/labor Access Services Assessment Task Force that reduced check-in errors at all libraries. As deputy director for Public Services and later associate director, John oversaw the completion of a number of major medical library renovations, including a complete renovation of the Medical Historical Library’s rare book stacks and staff areas, the construction of a Secure Reading Room, and the construction of the Cushing Center. In 2012, John was selected to participate in the National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries’ Leadership Fellowship Program. John's participation in this prestigious and highly competitive program gives testimony to the quality of his leadership abilities. Susan Gibbons, University Librarian and Deputy Provost for Libraries & Scholarly Communication commented, "John’s appointment is fantastic. Not only do we add a talented colleague to the library’s senior leadership team, but John’s career demonstrates the opportunities for career advancement at Yale University Library." Even with all his responsibilities, John has an open door policy and welcomes staff to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings with him. John is a mentor, teacher, friend and leader.  We welcome John as our new director!

Library profiled in spring 2016 issue of Nota Bene

May 10, 2016 - 10:42am by Andy Hickner

The spring 2016 issue of Nota Bene: News from the Yale Library is now available online. This issue has a particular focus on the work of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library as it marks its 75th anniversary this year.  In addition to telling the story of the Medical Library, the issue profiles some of the current projects, resources, collections, and exhibits that are making an impact at Yale and in the medical community worldwide.

More publishers now requiring ORCID iDs

March 4, 2016 - 2:15pm by Andy Hickner

In January 2016, ORCID announced that a number of publishers - eLife, PLOS, the Royal Society, IEEE, AGU, EMBO, and Science - plan to require submitting authors to register for and provide ORCID IDs.   In its own words, ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. ORCID is unique in its ability to reach across disciplines, research sectors and national boundaries. It is a hub that connects researchers and research through the embedding of ORCID identifiers in key workflows, such as research profile maintenance, manuscript submissions, grant applications, and patent applications.   ORCID provides two core functions: (1) a registry to obtain a unique identifier and manage a record of activities, and (2) APIs that support system-to-system communication and authentication. As ORCID puts it, Benefits for researchers, in addition to improved discoverability of their works, include single sign-on across journals and streamlined data entry.  The recent launch of Crossref’s auto-update functionality means that researchers can opt to have their ORCID record automatically updated when their papers are published, which in turn means that university and other systems can receive updates directly and reduce reporting burden on researchers. To learn more about the benefits of ORCID and how to get started, contact your departmental librarian. 

Cushing/Whitney Medical Library 75th Anniversary Kickoff

January 25, 2016 - 4:23pm by Andy Hickner

(by Janene Batten) Over the course of 2016, the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library will be celebrating 75 years since its founding.   The Medical Library’s anniversary kick-off event on Friday was a great success. Harvey Cushing himself made a special appearance. He was available for photographs with everyone, including these 3 students. Everyone enjoyed the cake, which featured the Library’s 75th logo.  The Library has also begun to collect audio snippets of people's recollections of the Library. We will soon begin to update the library's Facebook page with these stories. You are welcome to attend any of the variety of 75th Anniversary Events which are open to our patrons and friends. If you have a special memory, please share your story . And as the year progresses, come back and read the impact that the Library has had on others.

Contest Winners for "Discovering the Beauty of Science"

January 13, 2016 - 4:08pm by Andy Hickner

(by Rolando Garcia Milian and Terry Dagradi) Last summer we invited Yale biomedical researchers (undergrads, graduate students, postdocs, faculty, associate researchers, etc.) to share results from their work where they felt the images produced in search of science crossed over to art.  We thank all of you who submitted and appreciate your willingness to share with the community.  The images were reviewed by a committee including New Haven sculptor Gar Waterman, Sarah Fritchey (Curator / Gallery Director at Artspace New Haven), and Dr. Derek K. Toomre, Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Director of the YALE 'CINEMA’ Laboratory. Together, they selected many of the images currently on exhibit in the foyer of Cushing/Whitney Medical Library as well as the three 1st Honor awardees. The 1st Honor Awardees are: Marco Onorati, Department of Neurobiology Neurons in a Dish, 2015 Juror comments: “Neuron: Good rendition, dreamy quality”  “The fantastic crystalline structure in the center of this composition is very powerful. The sense of pull and energy is so forceful that it almost suggests a big bang moment.” (Click to view larger image) Neurons differentiated in a dish from stem cells.  Microphotograph, fluorescence.    Mustafa Khokha, Department of Pediatrics Frog Head, Year: 2015 Juror comments: “Great composition and detail.”  “Just a cool thing, whatever it is” (Click to view larger image) Xenopus laevis tadpole (frog). Brain (green) and Actin (red) and nuclei (blue) View from the back of the head over the Imaged with Leica Sp8 Confocal by Helen Rankin Xenopus Cold Spring Harbor Course.   Kate Henderson, Department of Pathology Stones Dreaming, 2013 Juror comment: “My favorite - love this one - fabulous color and pattern” (Click to view larger image) Abstract digital composition of microscopy endocrine images. Image description: I create environments from natural elements to give people a sense of place, describing emotional essence and energy that connects us to each other and everything around us. My images both describe and celebrate the intrinsically aesthetic structure of the natural world and the ever-present duality in all things. I invite the viewer to see and feel the world both within us and around us, experiencing the macro vs microelements common to all. Painting-with-cells is how I describe the cyto-Illusions series. I start by using microscope images of human cells and also images of abstraction “found” in nature. Through layering and manipulation techniques, I create an image that mirrors micro images on a macro level. On one level the images are a colorful abstraction that allow the viewer to freely explore and experience the image on their own. Many images are suggestive of a specific element such as water, but others are more environmentally placed. On another level the images are about the reality of nature; cells of disease, the growth structure of plants, and the patterns of light filtered through the leaves.   The Viewers’ Choice Award This was determined by all those who voted (404 votes total) on an exhibition album created on the Medical Library Facebook page. Laura Pappalardo – Department of Neurology Astrocytes display robust intracellular calcium response in model of astrogliosis, 2013 (Click to view larger image) Astrocytes, a non-neuronal type of cell in the brain and spinal cord, respond to central nervous system insult through the incompletely understood process of reactive astrogliosis, which is a hallmark in pathologies such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. While the ramifications of astrogliosis are debated, it is agreed that in its extreme forms, this process leads to the formation of a scar, which is long-lasting and can inhibit the regeneration of injured neurons. While the molecular drivers of astrogliosis are an area of active investigation, a clearer understanding is needed. Here, we show that after a scratch injury, there is a robust intracellular calcium response, which propagates through the syncytium of confluent astrocytes (red indicates high intracellular calcium). This calcium transient leads to downstream signaling that can regulate the astroglial response to injury. We are currently working to investigate the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, paying particular attention to voltage-gated sodium channels. Color scale represents the ratio of fluorescent signals induced by 340 and 380 nm excitation in cells loaded with Fura-2 AM. Scale bar, 50 ╡m. In collaboration with Stephen Waxman, Joel Black, Mark Estacion, and Omar Samad.

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library celebrates 75 years

January 13, 2016 - 2:04pm by Andy Hickner

Join us as the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library celebrates 75 years of being YOUR library. We are planning a year long program of exciting events. Mark your calendar for these highlights and watch for additional events, exhibits and information. January 22, 2016, 3-5pm 75th Anniversary Kickoff Party April 6, 2016, 4pm Associates Lecture and Reception, Immune system in health and disease. Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov June 3, 2016, 3pm Special Presentation, Harvey Cushing and John Fulton: Two Icons of the Roaring Twenties Bonded by Medicine and Books.  Dr. Dennis D. Spencer and Dr. Gordon Shepherd October 5, 2016, 3-5pm 75th Anniversary Gala
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