Kenneth Ludmerer

Kenneth Ludmerer

Professor of History and Medicine
Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor in the History of Medicine
Postdoctoral Fellowship in History of Science, Harvard University
MA, MD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
AB, Harvard College

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  • Washington University
    CB 8066
    One Brookings Drive
    St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

Kenneth M. Ludmerer is a professor in the Department of History in Arts & Sciences as well as the Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine in the School of Medicine. 

Ludmerer is a scholar of the history of medicine and science, with a specialization in the history of American medicine.  His research is focused on the history of American medical education in all its dimensions—its content, methods, institutional setting, cultural context, and relation to the broader society, as well as the lived experiences of learning and teaching medicine.  His investigations also examine the mission and values of the medical school and medical profession and how well medicine and society have fulfilled their respective ends of the social contract.     

Ludmerer’s interest in the history of genetics led to his first book, Genetics and American Society, a study of the American eugenics movement.  This book was placed by Saturday Review on its list of the year’s outstanding science books.  His second book, Learning to Heal, on the creation of America’s system of medical education, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize.  His next book, Time to Heal, examined the evolution of American medical education from the turn of the 20th century to the era of managed care.  It received the William Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine.  His most recent book, Let Me Heal, is the first-ever account of the residency system in the United States and its relation to the quality of patient care in the country.  It received the John C. Gienapp Award for Distinguished Service to Graduate Medical Education from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.  Presently he is completing Healing in Black and White, an examination of racial equity in American medicine from the antebellum period to the present.  

Ludmerer’s work has been recognized by election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Johns Hopkins University, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Washington University School of Medicine.  His work has also had a notable practical impact on medical education, recognized by his receipt of the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education from the Association of American Medical Colleges.  Science called him “the conscience of American academic medicine.”  He has served as an editorial board member of numerous journals and as an officer of many scholarly and professional organizations, including president of the American Association for the History of Medicine.  He is often interviewed by print and broadcast media. 

Originally from Long Beach, Calif., Ludmerer received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and MD from Johns Hopkins University.  He did a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in general internal medicine at Washington University as well as a chief residency in internal medicine at Barnes (now Barnes-Jewish) Hospital.  He also did a two-year research fellowship in the history of science at Harvard.  He has two adult children, both in St. Louis, and an artist wife, who makes certain he stays on track. 

Books

Time to Heal: American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care (New York:  Oxford University Press, 1999)

Learning to Heal: The Development of American Medical Education (New York:  Basic Books, 1985)

Genetics and American Society: A Historical Appraisal (Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins Press, 1972)

Work in Progress

With funding assistance from the Macy and Spencer Foundations, Ludmerer have begun a book on the history and present status of graduate medical education (residency training) in the United States. This project was inspired by work he did in 2008 as a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Resident Duty Hours. He anticipates a completed manuscript in late 2011.

Awards

2015 Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Association of American Physicians, and American Clinical and Climatological Association. 

Past President of the American Association for the History of Medicine and the American Osler Society. 

Recipient of the William Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine (for best book), the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education (from Association of American Medical Colleges), the inaugural Daniel Tosteson Award for Leadership in Medical Education (from Harvard Medical School), the Distinguished Alumnus Award of The Johns Hopkins University, the Nicholas Davies Award from the American College of Physicians (for contributions to the medical humanities), and a Mastership from the American College of Physicians. 

Past or present service on the editorial boards of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Isis, the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, the Journal of the History of Biology, and the History of Education Quarterly.