Susan christian mcmillen, uva historian and associate dean for social sciences, author of the book on pandemics. I wanted to ask you as we start out, are there any historical precedents for what the world is its appearance in right now with covid19 . Christian yeah, there are several. I think the most recent one that comes to mind, and probably comes to most everyone elses mind, is the 1918 influenza pandemic in terms of its rapidity, how fast it spread across the world, and its scope and span. In the 19th century the cholera epidemic would be the most, the clearest analogy. Susan we are going to have an opportunity to dig into some of those lessons of history a bit more, but when you look at the response, of course things are so much different for society now. You talk about how important it is to learn lessons from past pandemics and epidemics. What lessons have we clearly learned . Christian what lessons have we clearly learned . That is a good lesson. Im only smiling because as an
Kind of like, why in the middle of a pandemic are they calling people like me . So this is a good thing for us to talk about. This is a history methods course, it is about how you become a historian, and what you do for a living. You may remember the first week of class, we talked a little bit about the reaction you may sometimes get from family members when they hear you are a history major or minor or even taking a history course, that, why is this useful knowledge . Why are you bothering with all this old stuff . I can tell you personally i get , those questions a lot because of my Research Specialty in the history of health and medicine. Science is so much better today, why should we bother looking at the past history of diseases and how we responded to them . My goal today is to give you an example of why bother, and why i am proud to be a historian, why i am really psyched about what i do. So that is objective number one. I said the first week of class, i want to make you proud o
Professor tomes so what are we going to do today . I promised you that i would do show and tell from my own research, and the timing turned out that doing a Historical Perspective on pandemic preparedness might seem like a very interesting topic to discuss. I have been getting a lot of calls from journalists lately, and it is kind of, why in the middle of a pandemic are they calling people like me . So this is a good thing for us to talk about. This is a history methods course, it is about how you become a historian, and what you do for a living. You may remember the first week of class, we talked a little about the reaction you may sometimes get from family members when they hear you are a history major or minor or even taking a history course, that, why is this useful knowledge . Why are you bothering with all this old stuff . I get those questions a lot because of my Research Specialty in the history of health and medicine. Science is so much better today, why should we bother looki
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Know the world needs change and not the status quo, dont want the center to be a place where just managing the status quo and instead where were really articulating change. Woodruff and. This is more art than the human mind could possibly perceive. Woodruff as art basel kicks off in miami, Jeffrey Brown offers a look inside the nations largest art fair. All that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Love me tender we can like many, but we can love only a precious few, because it is for those precious few that you have to be willing to do so very much. You dont have to do it alone. Lincoln financial helps you provide for and protect your financial future because this is what you do for people you love. Lincoln financial youre in charge. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. Supported by the rockefeller foundatio