Main description:

Easy to read and to use, this A-to-Z mini-encyclopedia covers the most important medical innovations of the last 200 years.

Medical innovation is an extremely important topic-and one to which relatively little study has been devoted. This volume is designed to introduce readers to the history and development of key advances in the science and practice of medicine. It explores issues in medical history and provides perspective on contemporary scientific research and innovation. It also provides a backdrop against which to evaluate current headlines, such as the discoveries of live samples of smallpox virus in an unused storage room at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and incidents of bubonic plague in China and Colorado.

Although the entries in this single-volume resource describe how each innovation works, this is not intended as a technical text. Instead, the focus is on the context in which each innovation was developed and on its lasting importance in the field of medicine. Through these fascinating accounts, readers will be able to trace the evolution and legacy of key innovations and to see how other sectors of society-such as industry and the military-have affected and been affected by advances in the field of medicine.

Features 50 interesting A-to-Z reference entries on medical innovations

Covers biographies of important medical innovators, descriptions of the first use of an innovation, and descriptions of other innovations that were less successful

Provides an introductory essay explaining how the list was chosen and discussing the importance of innovation in the medical field

Includes a chronology of major milestones in medical innovation

Utilizes a ready-reference format that makes finding information about particular innovations easy