History of Medicine

This summer, I got the opportunity of a lifetime with my internship at a renowned neurology lab at MGH. I am learning so much, not just about scientific processes and research procedures, but also about Alzheimer's disease, a terrible disease afflicting over 35 million people worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive (and currently incurable) brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, eventually leading to the inability to carry out even the most basic tasks such as walking and dressing. The lab focuses on the pathological pathway to Alzheimer’s disease, which is still not fully understood. More about my lab research can be found at https://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/research/tanzi-lab-genetics-and-aging.  Alzheimer's disease was first studied by (and is named after) Dr. Alois Alzheimer who was treating a patient with mental illness with severe memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior.  After her death in 1906, Dr. Alzheimer exami

As I consider majoring in neurobiology (the study of the biological mechanisms that control the nervous system) in college, I thought it would be interesting to delve into the origins of neuroscience. For hundreds of years from the ancient Egyptians to the Greeks, humans believed that the seat of intellect was the heart (which is why the ancient Egyptians went to great lengths to preserve the heart after death but discarded the brain!)    The birth of neurology began 2500 years ago with Hippocrates who pondered over the purpose and functioning of the brain, reasoning that the brain must be the organ controlling sensation simply because most sensory organs - eyes, ears, and tongue -- are located close to the brain. This was starkly different from other opinions of the time which held that the heart was the main organ that controlled everything in humans. The brain was simply thought to be a "radiator" for pumping the heart and keeping it cool.  Later, Hippocrates expanded the