September 06, 2013
Lecture, exhibit focuses on women’s health issues
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A special presentation and exhibit at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Morris Library will highlight the history of women’s health in the past 200-plus years and celebrate the women who have changed the face of medicine and science.
Catherine Johnson McQueen, contributing researcher and exhibit curator, will speak at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 11, in the John C. Guyon Auditorium to open “A New Era in Women’s Health through History: from the 1800s-2013.”
A reception will follow in the library’s rotunda. The exhibit, in the Hall of Presidents and Chancellors, will continue through the end of the month. The university community and public are welcome to participate in the presentation and reception and to view the exhibit whenever the library is open.
McQueen’s experience includes more than 20 years of interviewing top medical professionals, researching women’s medical conditions, producing and directing media health awareness productions and participating in health conferences through the Illinois Department of Public Health, symposiums and seminars around the country. As a former member of the American Society of Microbiology, she will speak about women’s health issues and diseases, and the women who have made a difference in medicine and science.
The special exhibit includes reproductions of archival photographs along with letters, video footage and books of interest. The exhibit spotlights some of the archaic procedures women suffered through over the last three centuries, as well as the technology and advanced procedures now in use. It also highlights some of controversies regarding women’s diseases and treatments, information that affects women’s health, research and disease awareness, health education, the value of genome studies, and the work of doctors who play important roles in the women’s health field.
Visitors can even view 18th-century medical books, featuring drawings by physicians of medical condition findings derived from examining cadavers. The display will also include photos and an exam chair from the 1800s. The goal of the presentation and exhibit is to raise awareness about women’s health and to help alleviate health care disparities.
Exhibit and presentation sponsors are the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. For more information, contact McQueen at 888/497-8060.