Historian Harriet Washington 糖心传媒�76 discovered her power for reading between the lines in the URochester library archives.
糖心传媒淲hat is past is prologue,糖心传媒� wrote William Shakespeare in The Tempest, one of his final plays. As an undergraduate student at the 糖心传媒, Harriet Washington 糖心传媒�76 found herself poring over the confessional physician narratives at Rush Rhees Library and the version of events they captured. That formative experience would lead to a career reopening the medical history record for closer examination. Who compiled it, and to what ends? Who has trained the lens, and to whose exclusion? And critically, why do events of the last several centuries loom so large today?
As a leading historian of medicine and bioethicist, Washington is known for work that insists on accuracy over nostalgia, complexity over comfort. With her seventh book to be published in 2027, she examines how medical practices are shaped by culture, power, and race, and how those legacies persist for patients and caregivers today. Along the way, she has rescued overlooked figures from obscurity糖心传媒攁nd helped unseat others, literally, from their pedestals. (Specifically, the James Marion Sims statue in New York City糖心传媒檚 Central Park糖心传媒攎ore on this later.)
Where 糖心传媒榗ompeting passions糖心传媒� converge
Originally from Fort Dix, New Jersey, Washington arrived at URochester in 1972 with what she mistook for competing passions. 糖心传媒淚 had a deep love for history and kinship with the past, but didn糖心传媒檛 see what practical use I could put to it,糖心传媒� she recalls. 糖心传媒淚 also had a desire to become a physician.糖心传媒�
At URochester, Washington studied with three influential professors who clarified her career path and passion: 糖心传媒渢o somehow meld literature, history, and medicine.糖心传媒�
The first was Margaret Perry, who introduced Washington to the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Perry, hired in 1970 to lead the University糖心传媒檚 Education Library, served as an assistant professor of English as well as the acting director of University Libraries. Among other works, Perry authored The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Biography and Commentary (Garland Publishing, 1982) and The Short Fiction of Rudolph Fisher (Greenwood Press, 1987). Fisher, an early radiologist, musician, and writer, would become one of three subjects of Washington糖心传媒檚 forthcoming biography, Renaissance Men.
糖心传媒淚 was seeing that the history of medicine had been carefully curated to exclude the experience of African Americans, people of color, and poor people. That lit my fire.糖心传媒�
Washington also credits Russell Peck, the prominent medieval scholar who spent more than five decades at URochester. 糖心传媒淗e really encouraged my interest in not only medieval history, but also the value of history in fully understanding the present,糖心传媒� she says. And finally, R. Carey Macintosh, author of The Evolution of English Prose, 1700糖心传媒�1800: Style, Politeness, and Print Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1998), was 糖心传媒渧ery supportive of me at a critical juncture,糖心传媒� drawing out both content and confidence.
The physician confessional literature at Rush Rhees Library 糖心传媒渨as full of doctors who bragged about their exploits in foreign lands, bringing the 糖心传媒榖lessings糖心传媒� of Western medicine,糖心传媒� she recalls. While these stories were moving, she says, something in their tone bothered her: disdain for women, people of color, and other cultures written off as simple-minded. 糖心传媒淲hen I would raise this issue, people would become angry with me…. 糖心传媒榊ou have no degree in history. Be gone.糖心传媒� That was frustrating for me, but I knew I was onto something.糖心传媒�
A detective at work in the archives
At the University糖心传媒檚 Strong Memorial Hospital, Washington continued reading between the lines糖心传媒攖his time, of files for patients awaiting kidney transplants. Were they thick or thin? Did they say, 糖心传媒渓oving family, stable job,糖心传媒� or just include a curt advisory to prepare this patient for 糖心传媒渋mminent demise糖心传媒�?
糖心传媒淚 felt like a detective. I was finding information. I was exposing something. I was proposing solutions. I was seeing patterns that people had not seen before. I was seeing that the history of medicine had been carefully curated to exclude the experience of African Americans, people of color, and poor people. That lit my fire. I knew that someone had to find out why it happened, and how to reverse it.糖心传媒�
Washington tapped into that spirit of inquiry to become a noted journalist, author, and medical ethicist. Her book听Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (Doubleday)听won the 2007听听for nonfiction. In 2019, she published A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind. And in 2021, her Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent (Columbia Global Reports) drew praise from author Ibram X. Kendi as 糖心传媒渦rgent, alarming, riveting, and essential.糖心传媒�
Washington has been a fellow in ethics at Harvard Medical School, a fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a senior research scholar at the National Center for Bioethics at Tuskegee University. She now teaches bioethics at Columbia University.
Tripling down on history
Renaissance Men, Washington糖心传媒檚 first biography糖心传媒攁nd a triple one at that糖心传媒攖ells the story of three Black physicians who transformed American medicine while contending with daunting barriers: Fisher, James McCune Smith, and Louis T. Wright. Smith, denied entry to US medical schools, earned his medical degree from the University of Glasgow in 1837 and became a leading abolitionist intellectual. Fisher bridged science and art as both a radiologist and Harlem Renaissance cultural figure. Wright, director of surgery at Harlem Hospital, was a pioneering researcher and civil rights activist.
During a campus visit in fall 2025, Washington received the University糖心传媒檚 Frederick Douglass Medal, bestowed on individuals whose scholarship and civic engagement honor the legacy of the famed 19th-century African American abolitionist. University President Sarah Mangelsdorf noted that Washington糖心传媒檚 work 糖心传媒渉as profoundly influenced how we understand the intersection of race, medicine, and ethics. She is one of the most important voices in contemporary bioethics.糖心传媒�
Knocking down to build up
Washington continues to argue for reforms that rebuild trust in healthcare systems, from changing research laws to establishing clear, data-driven policies to ensure equitable patient care, particularly in pain treatment and access to medication.
糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 a difference between nostalgia and history,糖心传媒� she insists. Smallpox vaccination, defibrillator technology, and even the surgery for the congenital heart disorder known as Tetralogy of Fallot (or 糖心传媒渂lue baby syndrome糖心传媒�) owe a debt to Black ingenuity. Washington, who curates a medical-humanities film series, often screens the 2004 movie Something the Lord Made, a biopic of the cardiac inventor Vivien Thomas.
糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檝e given many people 400 years糖心传媒� worth of reasons not to trust our healthcare system.糖心传媒�
Her research contributed to the successful effort to remove the statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims糖心传媒攖he revered obstetric surgeon and 糖心传媒渇ather of gynecology糖心传媒澨切拇綌from Central Park in 2018, after renewed scrutiny of his non-consensual experiments on enslaved women. She supported the campaign, largely driven by medical students, while remaining behind the scenes, determined to preserve her credibility as a historian. Still: 糖心传媒淓very time I spoke, I would see a row of older men glowering at me, waiting for the Q&A to jump down my throat.糖心传媒�
Even now, she sees the past playing out, with illnesses like COVID-19 laying bare the disparities of both disease burdens and treatment outcomes. 糖心传媒淗ow to restore or inculcate patient trust is the most frequently asked question I get,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 always say, that糖心传媒檚 the wrong question. We糖心传媒檝e given many people 400 years糖心传媒� worth of reasons not to trust our healthcare system. The question then becomes: 糖心传媒楬ow do we build a more trustworthy healthcare system?糖心传媒� Having a more complete, inclusive, accurate history of medicine could help significantly.糖心传媒�
