The Iago Galdston Lecture

The annual Iago Galdston Lecture honors Dr. Galdston, a psychiatrist and educator who dedicated his career to enhancing the health of individuals and the community. Established in 1989, this annual event is dedicated to bringing a distinguished scholar in areas of inquiry related to the historical, philosophical, and humanistic aspects of medicine to share important information with the fellowship and guests of the Academy.

Dr. Galdston was born in Kishinev, Russia, and received his medical training in New York and Vienna. Dr. Galdston joined the Professional staff of the New York Academy of Medicine in 1928, creating what would become the Academy’s Medical Information Bureau, which disseminated important information to the public and the press concerning. His column, “Iago Galdston for the New York Academy of Medicine,” published in 200 newspapers, was the authoritative source for medical information to the public. Dr. Galdston lived to be 94, and upon his death in 1989, his family created the Iago Galdston Lectureship at The New York Academy of Medicine. 

Contact Information

The New York Academy of Medicine Library
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029
Email: history@nyam.org
Telephone: 212-822-7313

Previous Lecturers 

2014-2015

Hilary Aquino, PhD
Albright College 'Making Public Health Contagious’ — The Life and Career of Leona Baumgartner, M.D., Ph.D 

2013-2014

Heather Varughese John, MD, PhD
Who is Dr. X? Physicians in Training and the Mass-Market Memoir

2012-2013

Mark Largent, PhD
Michigan State University
Vaccine: The Modern American Debate

2011-2012

Barron Lerner, MD, PhD
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900

2010-2011

Leslie J. Reagan, PhD
University of Illinois
Dangerous Pregnancies: German Measles (Rubella), Mothers, and Disabilities in Modern America

2009-2010

Steven J. Peitzman, MD
Drexel University College of Medicine
Bleed or Not Bleed Mrs. Camac? A 19th Century Medical Decision

2008-2009

Jacqueline Wolf, PhD
Ohio University
Historical Perspectives on Reducing Maternal Mortality, Part II: Despite the Risk: Lay and Medical Perceptions of Obstetric Anesthesia

2007-2008

Arleen M. Tuchman
Vanderbilt University
Diabetes: A Cultural History

2006-2007

Susan Lederer, PhD
Yale University
Bombs, Blood, and Bio-Markers: Medical Preparedness in Cold War America

2005-2006

Janet Golden
Rutgers University
The Making of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

2004-2005

Judy Wu
Ohio State University
Modernizing Chinatown: Race, Reproduction, and Medical Tourism

2003-2004

Bert Hansen, PhD
Baruch College
Medical History for the Masses: Heroes of Medicine in Children's Comic Books of the 1940s 

2002-2003

Randall M. Packard, PhD
Johns Hopkins University
What Kind of a Problem is Malaria? The Past and Future of Malaria Control

2001-2002

James Mohr, PhD
University of Oregon
The Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown: Plague, Fire, Bacteriology, and Public Health Policy at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century