Dr. Jean Mitchell delivers the next PEI History of Medicine Society Lecture, March 8
The next lecture presented by The PEI History of Medicine Society features Dr. Jean Mitchell, associate professor of anthropology at UPEI. Dr. Mitchell’s talk is entitled, “The ‘Other War’ in the South Pacific (1942-45): malaria, the American military, and Pacific islanders during the Second World War.” Her lecture is Wednesday, March 8 at 7:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building.
When American troops landed in New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in the Southwest Pacific in 1942 to halt Japanese expansion during the Second World, they were ready to mount a full-scale war. They were ill-prepared for their early battle with malaria, which quickly incapacitated soldiers. They also had limited access to quinine supplies—the only effective treatment—that had been cut off by Japanese forces.
Controlling malaria became instrumental in deciding the outcome of the Pacific war. The subsequent search for malaria chemotherapy initiated one of the largest biomedical research efforts in the first part of the twentieth century, providing a model for later biomedical and health research programs. When the endemic malaria became an epidemic among American soldiers, it transformed the little known archipelago of New Hebrides into an “unintended laboratory” for malaria research and control.
Dr. Jean Mitchell has been doing research in the Pacific for more than 20 years. Her interest in medical anthropology developed while working in health programs in the South Pacific and India.
All are welcome!
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