Ramón y Cajal: Deconstructing a Legacy

Description

In this talk, we will learn about Santiago Ramón y Cajal's great contributions to science and medicine in the form of his neuron doctrine, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906. We will also explore the person, mentor, and writer behind the giant; the still-ongoing contentious fight surrounding his legacy; and the capriciousness of who gets to be remembered and how. Part historical thriller, part humanistic neuroscience didactic, and part journey of personal exploration, this fast-paced lecture will seek to offer clarity regarding Cajal's scientific work and pose questions surrounding the tension between the individual and the historical-political framework when trying to understand legacy, heritage, and personal identity.

Born and raised in Barcelona, Elisabet Pujadas graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. with Honors in Biological Sciences. She subsequently moved to Baltimore to join the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she obtained an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering.

Pujadas has also had a longstanding interest in the life, scientific contributions and legacy of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. While at Johns Hopkins, she spent time at the Institute for the History of Medicine developing this work, which earned her the 2013 Betty and Edgar Sweren Student Book Collecting contest and the 2019 W. Bruce Fye Prize in the History of Medicine with an essay entitled "Cajal and Golgi: Historical Perspectives on the Neuron Doctrine". Pujadas is currently a chief resident in Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.