Kenneth Ludmerer

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 BA 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.