Elizabeth O’Brien Wins William H. Welch Medal for Surgery and Salvation

Elizabeth O’Brien was awarded the American Association for The History of Medicine William H. Welch Medal for her book Surgery and Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940. The Welch Medal is awarded to a book of outstanding scholarly merit in the field of medical history published during the five calendar years preceding the award. It is the only book prize in the field of the History of Medicine in the United States. The medal is named in honor of William H. Welch, M.D., a pathologist, bacteriologist, and first dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. (Photo: Elizabeth O’Brien with UCLA PhD students Benjamin Schneider (left) and Julian Kaptanian (right).)

UC Faculty authored three of five books on the 2025 Welch Medal shortlist. Congratulations to our History Department colleague, Bharat Jayram Venkat, whose book At the Limits of Cure was a finalist for the prize. Another 2025 finalist was How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea, by UC Berkeley Associate Professor of History, Sandra Eder.