Waltham –
April -- Colleen Flanagan, a student at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School, has been selected as the winner of the 2017 History Essay Contest
sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society.
The award
is presented annually by the MMS Committee on History to a medical student for
the best original, independently researched essay related to the history of
medicine or public health in Massachusetts since the establishment of the
Society in 1781. A $1,000 award accompanies
the honor.
Ms.
Flanagan’s essay was entitled, “The
Benevolent Institution: How the Seventh Annual Report Argues for Developing
European Attitudes Towards Mental Health in 19th Century America.”
The
2,600-word essay describes how the seventh annual report of the State Lunatic
Hospital at Worcester, which opened in 1832, went beyond the request for more
funding from the Commonwealth and engaged in an ongoing dialogue regarding the
causes and treatment of insanity. “In doing so,” Ms. Flanagan concluded, “the trustees and
superintendent began the spread of European Enlightened ideals regarding the
mentally ill to America.” The complete
essay may be read here.
Ms. Flanagan
is a first-year medical student at UMass Medical School in Worcester. She received her high-school diploma from
Phillips Academy Andover in 2010 and her bachelor’s degree in biology and
history from Tufts University in 2014.
Her studies at Tufts included biomedical basic science research in the
field of neuro-oncology while part of the Cochran Lab at Tufts University
School of Medicine.
Following
graduation, she pursued an interest in the policy and business aspects of the medical
field by working in healthcare consulting at The Amundsen Group and IMS Health
(now QuintilesIMS). Her medical
interests include oncology, especially within the field of hematology/oncology,
which she will further explore this summer with research at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
The Massachusetts Medical
Society, with some 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating
and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society,
under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of
Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch
alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in
continuing medical education providing accredited and certified activities
across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest
continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information
please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
