MUSC Waring Library announces paper competition winners

CHARLESTON, SC – The Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) announced the winners of the 2014 W. Curtis Worthington, Jr. Research Paper Competition. First prize in the graduate category is awarded to Chris Willoughby, a history Ph.D. candidate at Tulane University for his paper, “Running away from Drapetomania: Rethinking Samuel Cartwright and Racial Medicine in the Antebellum South.” First prize in the undergraduate category is awarded to Benjamin Schaffer, a history major at the College of Charleston for his paper, “The Euro-Confederate Doctors: The Impact of the 19th Century European Medical World on the Careers of Three Southern Physician.”

Both first-prize winners receive $1500 and are invited to publish their papers in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association. Papers were judged by: Dr. Peter McCandless, professor emeritus, department of history at the College of Charleston; Dr. Charles S. Bryan, professor emeritus, University of South Carolina School of Medicine and former editor of the Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association, and Dr. Robert Ball, adjunct assistant professor in MUSC’s Department of Public Health Sciences.

Christopher Willoughby is a Ph.D. Candidate in the History Department at Tulane University and a Dissertation Fellow at the Murphy Institute Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at Tulane.  He received his Bachelor’s degree from the College of Charleston in English and History, and a Masters degree in history at Tulane University.  While working on his dissertation entitled “Treating the Black Body: Race and Medicine in American Culture 1800-1861,” he has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science, and the Virginia Historical Society.

Benjamin Schaffer is a senior majoring in history, with a minor in political science at the College of Charleston with particular research interests in pre-revolutionary Anglo-American relations and British military history in colonial America. In his free time, he participates in colonial, Civil War, and even World War II Reenactments. He hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in colonial Atlantic world history and teach at the college level.

The W. Curtis Worthington Research Paper Competition is named for Dr. W. Curtis Worthington Jr., director of the Waring Historical Library, and is in its eighth year. The Award was established to encourage students to contribute to the scholarship about the history of medicine and to reward those whose work is truly exemplary. For more information or to find out how to support the award, visit www.waring.library.musc.edu.

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 13,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.7 billion. MUSC operates a 750-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), Hollings Cancer Center (one of 66 National Cancer Institute designated centers) and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu. For more information on hospital patient services, visitwww.muschealth.com.