For immediate release: February 10, 2007
Contact: Emily Wofford Cobb
Public Relations Manager
775-784-6006
ewofford@unr.edu
Anton Sohn, M.D. and Bonnie Ragains create online collection of historic images
RENO, Nev.—The history of medicine can be traced back thousands of years to the time of the Ancient Greeks. Modern medicine, as it exists today, however has a much shorter but no less interesting story. In Nevada, that story begins with the frontier military medicine that was practiced in the Great Basin during the 19th century.
Now Nevada’s medical history is also a story that, with just a few clicks of the mouse, can be viewed online thanks to the efforts of Anton Sohn, M.D., University of Nevada School of Medicine professor and pathology department chair, and Bonnie Ragains, a library technician with the School of Medicine’s Savitt Medical Library. Sohn, who acts as the medical school’s resident historian, and Ragains, who handles information resources for the medical library, have worked tirelessly to upload more than 600 images from the Great Basin History of Medicine Photo Archive to the School of Medicine website.
“Nevada has a rich healthcare history,” says Sohn. “These photos tell our story. They show us where we’ve been and how we’ve made it to where we are today. They also show us the possibilities of where we can go tomorrow.”
The images available online represent just a portion of the School’s collection of more than 7,000 photographs that tell the state’s medical history. The photo collection documents more than 100 years of healthcare for Nevada citizens and includes images from the early days of the School of Medicine, the Nevada State Medical Association and member societies, the Reno Surgical Society, and early Nevada hospitals, doctors, nurses, dentists, and veterinarians.
In addition to the digital collection, the School of Medicine also boasts an indexed collection of 35 mm slides and negatives which can be found in the Doctors Hood History of Medicine Library located within Savitt Medical Library in the Pennington Medical Education Building at the School of Medicine’s Reno campus. The library, which is open to the public, also contains an antique medical instrument exhibit, more than 90 oral histories of prominent Nevadan medical figures, and books on the history of medicine.
The digital collection, which can be accessed at http://www.medicine.nevada.edu/dept/hom/GBHOMPhotoArchive/, is offered to the public without copyright restrictions; however, the University of Nevada School of Medicine should be credited as the source for any image copied from the site. Sohn and Ragains plan to continue uploading more of the some 7,000 archival photographs to the online gallery. For further information, please contact Emily Wofford Cobb, public relations manager, at 775-784-6006 or ewofford@unr.edu.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational, and clinical needs since 1969. The School of Medicine encompasses 16 clinical medical education departments, including Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Internal Medicine, and Surgery, as well as ten nationally-recognized departments within basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. As the largest multi-specialty healthcare focus within the state, the School of Medicine employs more than 185 doctors who both teach and practice medicine throughout Nevada. The school’s statewide faculty physician practice group has a combined 25 different medical specialties with seven physician practice offices located in the Reno-Sparks area and five physician offices located in Las Vegas.
The University of Nevada School of Medicine utilizes a best-practice approach to medicine and is committed to addressing the health needs of Nevada now and in the future. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.
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