Janet Gilsdorf, MD, Robert P. Kelch Research Professor Emerita in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Gilsdorf will share stories of how scientists across the 19th and 20th centuries defeated the deadly brain infection meningitis — not through flawless research, but through a series of serendipitous events, misplaced assumptions, and flawed conclusions. The result shows not just how a disease vanquished, but how scientific accomplishment can sometimes occur where it's least expected.

The Richard B. Davis, MD, PhD, History of Medicine Lectureship brings national experts to the UNMC campus to discuss the history of medicine, in support of special collections at the McGoogan Library, including rare books and works on the history of medicine. The lectureship is supported through an endowed fund given by the late Richard B. Davis, MD, PhD (1926-2010), professor emeritus of internal medicine at UNMC, and his wife, Jean. Davis supported this lectureship out of his long-standing interest in the history of medicine; he was a faculty member at UNMC from 1969-1994.