The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will open “First Do No Harm,” an exhibition that explores science, medical practice, public health and how practitioners, inventors, patients and communities have shaped healthcare in the United States. Featuring stories about efforts to reduce suffering, extend lives and provide better healthcare for all, the exhibition is scheduled to open to the public Friday, Nov. 6, and will be on view for about three years.
Inspired by the ancient charge to “first, do no harm,” healthcare practitioners have advanced medicine to improve people’s lives and developed cutting-edge technologies that have revolutionized medicine. Not everyone, however, has benefited equally from medical advances, and some innovations have also raised new challenges and consequences. The core of the exhibition looks at astonishing advances but also at disparities and ramifications in the areas of health data, medical technologies, medicines and microbes. The third focal point highlights how community advocates, responding to gaps in care, have sought ways to improve health outcomes in their communities and beyond.
The exhibition opens with three case studies. The first features Maurice Hilleman, a scientist who helped develop some 40 life-saving vaccines. The second highlights the 1985 landmark study commissioned by Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler during the Reagan administration, the Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health, in which the federal government for the first time acknowledged racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States. The third case study focuses on San Francisco’s Chinese Benevolent Association, which in 1899 established the Tung Wah Dispensary to provide care for a community excluded from the city’s hospitals. Together, these stories illustrate scientific innovation, public health challenges and community responses across different periods of American history.
“‘First Do No Harm’ offers a dynamic showcase of some of the most significant artifacts in the museum’s collection, encompassing some of the greatest achievements in science and advances in medicine,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan director. “Visitors will be able to explore how practitioners, patients and communities have shaped healthcare in the United States. It’s a story that’s challenging yet also relatable and accessible, uplifting and wonderfully human.”
The exhibition will feature significant artifacts from the museum’s collections related to medicine and science, paired with vibrant graphics and three thought-provoking questions to provide insight into the stories presented in the exhibition. Objects on display include:
- The Liotta‑Cooley artificial heart, the first artificial heart implanted in a human, 1969.
- A 1928 sample of penicillin mold from Alexander Fleming’s lab, a discovery that led to the breakthrough antibiotic to treat infectious diseases.
- HIV and AIDS drugs from the 1980s and early 1990s AIDS epidemic.
- A mosquito net from the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2019.
- A syringe used by Jonas Salk to test the polio vaccine in 1950 and a vial of Pfizer’s 2021 COVID-19 vaccine.
- A prototype scanner that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Allan M. Cormack used in experiments that helped establish the theoretical foundations of computed tomography (CT scans), 1963.
About the Museum
Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of our past. The doors of the museum are always open online, and the virtual museum continues to expand its offerings, including online exhibitions, PK–12 educational materials and programs.