A Short History of American Medicine, 1955- (From the President‪)‬

In one of Mark Twain's masterpieces, Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher wandered deeper and deeper into a cavern, and got lost. It is much easier to penetrate deeply into such a labyrinth than it is to find the way out. Such appears to me to be the history of the plight of modern American medicine from about 1955 on. By 1955 we were 10 years post-war, emerging from what seem now to be primitive medical practices. I would venture to say that most of what we know in science and medicine we have learned in the last 65 years or so. Our nation entered a long period of relative prosperity, and we far surpassed the rest of the world in medical and scientific research and practice.