Image from Death of a Disease
Smallpox Eradication:
The End of a Disease and the Beginning of a New Era in Public Health
Matthew Blum
G/T Independent Research
Advisor: Dr. David Scordino, Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital
In the Independent Research class, I am researching the legacy of the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Program under the leadership of Dr. D.A. Henderson. At the dawn of 1980, smallpox became the first human disease eradicated from the world. As a result of this tremendous success, the pustules, scars, and deaths from the deadliest disease in the history exist only in history textbooks. My research has taken me from the National Library of Medicine to the National Museum of American History. I have had the pleasure of hearing the stories of courageous public health officials and the thorough analysis from historians about, arguably, the greatest public health success in history. This project seeks to evaluate the impact of the Smallpox Eradication Program on future eradication of other communicable diseases as well as inform about the miraculous precedent of eradicating smallpox.
G/T Independent Research
Advisor: Dr. David Scordino, Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital
In the Independent Research class, I am researching the legacy of the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Program under the leadership of Dr. D.A. Henderson. At the dawn of 1980, smallpox became the first human disease eradicated from the world. As a result of this tremendous success, the pustules, scars, and deaths from the deadliest disease in the history exist only in history textbooks. My research has taken me from the National Library of Medicine to the National Museum of American History. I have had the pleasure of hearing the stories of courageous public health officials and the thorough analysis from historians about, arguably, the greatest public health success in history. This project seeks to evaluate the impact of the Smallpox Eradication Program on future eradication of other communicable diseases as well as inform about the miraculous precedent of eradicating smallpox.