While many authors have surveyed the contributions of Victor Almon McKusick, MD (21 October 1921–22 July 2008) to establishing the field of medical genetics, no authors have reviewed his significant contributions as an historian to the field of the history of medicine. In discussing relevant biographical themes and their functional influence in his life, his philosophical approach to the study of the history of medicine and his unique historiography, blending various major schools of thought into a hybrid analytical approach to historical research, was evaluated. The evaluation drew on a series of interviews conducted with McKusick in 2004 and 2005, review of a selection of his published historical contributions, and review of secondary sources.
[no author] Victor McKusick. In: Genetics. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. Reproduced in: Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.
2.
BlissM. William Osler: a life in medicine, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. xii–xiii.
3.
Poling MI. Medical humanism: a perpetuation of Appalachian values. BA Thesis, West Virginia Wesleyan College, USA, 2004, pp.12–14.
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McKusickVA. Observations over 50 years concerning intestinal polyposis, Marfan Syndrome and achondroplasia. Nature Medicine1997; 3: 1065–1068.
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CrowEWCrowJF. 100 years ago: Walter Sutton and the chromosome theory of heredity. Genetics2002; 160: 1–4.
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McKusickVA. A synopsis of clinical auscultation, being a treatise on cardiovascular and respiratory sound, introduced by an historical survey, illustrated by sound spectrograms (spectral phonocardiograms), and supplemented by a comprehensive bibliography, Baltimore: Privately printed and bound, in limited numbers, 1956.
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SchusterVSeregardS. Ligneons conjunctivitis. Survey of Ophthalmology2003; 48: 369–388.
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WolffGWienkerTFSanderH. On the genetics of mandibular prognathism: analysis of large European noble families. Journal of Medical Genetics1993; 30: 112–116.
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WoodsM. Lincoln’s health draws scrutiny, Bar Harbour: Post-Gazette National Bureau, 2000.
10.
[no author] Panel clears testing of Lincoln’s DNA: National Museum of Health and Medicine panel approves testing of Abraham Lincoln’s DNA to find out if he had Marfan’s syndrome). Science News, 25 May 1991.
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Editors. Genomics as it enters its second decade. Genomics 1997; 45: 243.
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Editors. Editorial. Genomics 1999; 55: 1.
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Editors. Genomics: an established discipline, a commonly used name, a mature journal. Genomics 1996; 31: 1–2.
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McKusickVA. Structural and functional studies of genomes. Genomics1997; 45: 444–449.
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RothsteinWG.Review of: HarveyAMBriegerGHAbramsSLMcKusickVA. A model of its kind: a centennial history of medicine at Johns Hopkins (Vol. 1) and Harvey AM, Brieger GH, Abrams SL, Fishbein JM, McKusick VA. A model of its kind: a pictorial history of medicine at Johns Hopkins (Vol. 2). History of Education Quarterly1990; 30: 277–278.
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LedererSE.Review of HarveyAMBriegerGHAbramsSLMcKusickVA. A model of its kind: a centennial history of medicine at Johns Hopkins (Vol. 1) and Harvey AM, Brieger GH, Abrams SL, Fishbein JM, McKusick VA. A model of its kind: a pictorial history of medicine at Johns Hopkins (Vol. 2). Journal of American History1990; 77: 693–694.
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Comfort N. ‘Polyhybrid heterogeneous bastards:’ promoting medical genetics and eugenics in 1930s America. PhD Thesis, Johns Hopkins University, 2005, p.36.
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McKusickVA. Medical genetics: a 40-year perspective on the evolution of a medical speciality from a basic science. JAMA1993; 270: 2351–2356.
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Haeger KM. The illustrated history of surgery, 2nd ed. London: Harold Starke Publishers Ltd, 2000, pp. 143–145.
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McKusickVA. Medical genetics studies of the Amish: selected papers, assembled with commentary, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
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DonahueRPBiasWBRenwickJHet al.Probable assignment of the Duffy blood group locus to chromosome 1 in Man. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1968; 61: 949–955.
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VentureCet al.The sequence of the human genome. Science2001; 292: 1304–1351.
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Harvey AM, Johns RJ, McKusick VA, et al. (eds). Principles and practice of medicine. 22nd ed. Norwalk: Appleton and Lange, 1988.
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HarveyAMMcKusickVA. Osler’s textbook revisited: a reprint of selected sections with commentaries, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.
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McKusickVA. Biographical memoirs: A. McGehee Harvey (30 July 1911–8 May 1998). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society2000; 144: 85–94.
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McKusickVA. Osler as a medical geneticist. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal1976; 139: 163–174.
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McKusickVA. Marcella O’Grady Boveri (1865–1950) and the chromosome theory of cancer. Journal of Medical Genetics1985; 22: 431–440.
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McKusickVA. Elements of style in medical writing and speaking, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1988. (unpublished).
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McKusickVA. Review of: Galton Institute. The century of Mendelism. Journal of Medical Genetics2002; 39: 782–782.
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McKusickVA. The anatomy of the human genome: a neo-Vesalian basis for medicine in the 21st century. JAMA2001; 286: 2289–2295.
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McKusickVA. Mapping the human genome: retrospective, perspective and prospective. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society1997; 141: 417–424.
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McKusick VA. The human genome project: status, prospects, and implications for ethics, society, and the law. In: Paper presented at 7th International Association of Catholic Medical Schools, Santiago, Chile, January 1994.
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McKusickVAChapter 1: history of medical genetics. In: RimoinDLConnorJMPyeritzRE (eds). Emery-Rimoin principles and practice of medical genetics, 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston, 1996, pp. 1–30.
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McKusickVA. Presidential address, eighth International Congress of Human Genetics: human genetics: the last 35 years, the present, and the future. American Journal of Human Genetics1992; 50: 663–670.
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McKusick VA. Medical genetics at Johns Hopkins: past, present and future. 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
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PeltonenLMcKusickVA. Dissecting human disease in the post-genomic era. Science2001; 29: 1224–1229.
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CollinsFSMcKusickVA. Implications of the human genome project for medical science. JAMA2001; 285: 540–544.
