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The Changing Face of Twentieth-Century American Cardiology
Abstract
The meaning of American cardiology has been transformed over the past century. During that time, cardiology has been defined by several organizations: by the American Board of Internal Medicine through subspecialty certifications; by the two major American cardiology societies, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology; and by the four major cardiology journals. These organizations have sometimes cooperated, sometimes competed. Cardiology has also had to negotiate relationships with several external interest groups, including pediatrics, surgery, hospitals, and internal medicine. Throughout the 20th century, the word cardiology has had no meaning save its definition within a larger web of organizations, relationships, and ideas. That meaning, like the meaning of all specialties and subspecialties, is historically mediated and constantly changing.
Article and Author Information
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▸From the Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical Center; Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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▸The original version of this paper was commissioned for a conference on the history of internal medicine held at the Francis C. Wood Institute for the History of Medicine, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, in March 1986. It is the third in a series being published in the History of Medicine section in the academic year 1986-87. Russell C. Maulitz, M.D., Ph.D., and Diana E. Long, Ph.D., are editors for the series. The full versions of these papers and several others will appear in a proceedings entitled Grand Rounds, to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1987. The copyrights to this and the other papers in the series are owned by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
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▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Joel D. Howell, M.D.; Department of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical Center, Taubman Center 3116/0376, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive; Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0376.
