Nita—Thank you for another wonderful essay. It will expand how I teach the story of childbed fever in my course. I only learned about Alexander Gordon during a 2023 study leave in the UK, and his account has stayed with me. In 1795—long before Semmelweis—Gordon described how puerperal fever was transmitted and wrote, “It is a disagreeable declaration that I was the means of carrying the disease to a great number of women.”
Great article, Nita. The ME's office in Milwaukee had a plaque in the autopsy room, "Remember Semmelweis," but Holmes work was largely unknown and unappreciated. His son, on the other hand, is better known- as a Supreme Court jurist. And Sherlock Holmes was, according to his author Arthur Conan Doyle, the namesake for the world's greatest detective. -
“Remember Semmelweis” as a plaque in an autopsy room is so apropos! The namesake makes sense; both had the same instinct to follow the evidence wherever it may lead.
Absolutely fascinating. When I am teaching storytelling and communication to health experts, I use the example of Dr John Snow and discovering cholera being spread by water in the 1850s which was against common thinking. It took years for public policy to change,. You would think solid data would be enough to transform medicine but sometimes its not. Thank you
Yes, John Snow is a fantastic example! And kind of the inverse of what we saw with COVID-19 airborne transmission denialism. Victorian “miasma theory” argued that cholera was inhaled through foul air, and other routes of transmission were met with skepticism. Patterns of resistance never seem to change.
Thank you for this powerful piece. I love how you highlighted the gap between the promise of data in medicine and the reality of how slowly that promise is realized. The framing around missed potential, especially when real people have already contributed their data, is so important. Especially the disconnect between data generation and clinical integration. We now have unprecedented volumes of genomic, clinical, and real-world data, yet translating that into actionable insights at the bedside remains challenging due to fragmentation, interoperability issues, regulatory constraints, and incentives that don’t always align with patient outcomes. One aspect that might further strengthen the piece would be to explore where progress is happening; examples of systems or models that are beginning to close this gap, which could help balance the critique with a sense of direction.
Such a thoughtful and necessary contribution to the conversation around data-driven medicine!
Nita—Thank you for another wonderful essay. It will expand how I teach the story of childbed fever in my course. I only learned about Alexander Gordon during a 2023 study leave in the UK, and his account has stayed with me. In 1795—long before Semmelweis—Gordon described how puerperal fever was transmitted and wrote, “It is a disagreeable declaration that I was the means of carrying the disease to a great number of women.”
Thank you for educating me about Gordon, Dr. Lanphear. There are so many unsung heroes of medicine, and I count you among them.
Great article, Nita. The ME's office in Milwaukee had a plaque in the autopsy room, "Remember Semmelweis," but Holmes work was largely unknown and unappreciated. His son, on the other hand, is better known- as a Supreme Court jurist. And Sherlock Holmes was, according to his author Arthur Conan Doyle, the namesake for the world's greatest detective. -
“Remember Semmelweis” as a plaque in an autopsy room is so apropos! The namesake makes sense; both had the same instinct to follow the evidence wherever it may lead.
A thought-provoking article. The deepest resistance seems to be not just to the data, but to what it implied. That still feels very current.
History has a way of repeating itself. Old habits die hard, and cognitive biases are extremely difficult to overcome even with education.
Interesting read, Nita! Thank you for the write-up.
Absolutely fascinating. When I am teaching storytelling and communication to health experts, I use the example of Dr John Snow and discovering cholera being spread by water in the 1850s which was against common thinking. It took years for public policy to change,. You would think solid data would be enough to transform medicine but sometimes its not. Thank you
Yes, John Snow is a fantastic example! And kind of the inverse of what we saw with COVID-19 airborne transmission denialism. Victorian “miasma theory” argued that cholera was inhaled through foul air, and other routes of transmission were met with skepticism. Patterns of resistance never seem to change.
As a reporter covering the COVID-19 pandemic, it was extremely frustrating to see some experts denying it was transmitted through the air!
Wonderful article, thank you.
"The gap between evidence and acceptance is often vast and represents just how vigorously institutions respond to threat."
I see this very clearly in my specific field of study.
Thanks, I appreciate everything you do to advance autism research and advocate for families.
Really well written article! I had not heard of Semmelweis. Thank you for telling his important story.
Thanks for reading, Moorea!
Thank you for this powerful piece. I love how you highlighted the gap between the promise of data in medicine and the reality of how slowly that promise is realized. The framing around missed potential, especially when real people have already contributed their data, is so important. Especially the disconnect between data generation and clinical integration. We now have unprecedented volumes of genomic, clinical, and real-world data, yet translating that into actionable insights at the bedside remains challenging due to fragmentation, interoperability issues, regulatory constraints, and incentives that don’t always align with patient outcomes. One aspect that might further strengthen the piece would be to explore where progress is happening; examples of systems or models that are beginning to close this gap, which could help balance the critique with a sense of direction.
Such a thoughtful and necessary contribution to the conversation around data-driven medicine!