A high school classmate of mine, Karie Youngdahl, and one of her colleagues have started a new blog called The History of Vaccines Blog. Here is the initial post:
The History of Vaccines is an informational, educational website being developed by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest medical association in the United States. A group of prominent Philadelphia physicians, including Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Rush, established the College in 1787 “to advance the science of medicine and to thereby lessen human misery.”
Today, the College’s mission is to advance the cause of health, while upholding the ideals and heritage of medicine. All aspects of the College—its physician Fellows, its Historical Medical Library, and the world-renowned Mütter Museum—serve this mission.
The College is creating The History of Vaccines to provide a living, changing chronicle of the compelling history of vaccination, from pre-Jennerian variolation practices, to the defeat of polio in the Western Hemisphere, to cutting-edge approaches to vaccination for cancer, atherosclerosis, and addiction. This site will increase public knowledge and understanding of the ways in which vaccines work, how they have been developed, and the role they play in the improvement of human health.
A full-featured site will launch in late September 2010. Until then, this blog and our multimediahistory of smallpox vaccination timeline feature our ongoing work, show our intentions for the complete site, and communicate with our audiences.
For more information about the project, see About.