Joel Howell, MD, PhD, has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan since 1984. In addition to being the Director of the Medical Arts Program, he is a Senior Associate Director of the University of Michigan Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, the Victor Vaughan Professor of the History of Medicine, and a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine (Medical School), History (College of LSA), and Health Management and Policy (School of Public Health). He earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals. At the University of Pennsylvania he was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and a senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. He completed his doctorate in the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania with Rosemary Stevens as his thesis advisor.

Howell’s special interest lies in the history of medical technology and the medical humanities. He has written widely on the use of medical technology, examining the social and contextual factors relevant to its clinical application and diffusion, analyzing why American medicine has become so obsessed with the use of medical technology. He is currently studying the history of the fiberoptic endoscope. Recent projects have started to explore the history of medical education in Ethiopia and the history of cardiology in Brazil. He is also writing on the history of human experimentation, on the use of children’s bodies for anatomic study in the early 20th study, and on ideas about heart attacks.

Howell’s publications have appeared widely in the medical and the historical literature. His research has been supported both by federal grants and by foundations. In 2013 he received the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award for Scholarly Activities in the Humanities and History of Medicine from the American College of Physicians. In addition to his medical publications, Howell is the author of “Washtenaw County Bike Rides” (University of Michigan Press). Dr. Howell is a practicing internist and attending physician in both the outpatient and inpatient settings and regularly teaches in the Medical School and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

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Education & Background

1975        BS, Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
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1979        MD, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Post-Graduate Training

1979 – 1980    Intern in Medicine, University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, Illinois

1980 – 1982    Resident in Medicine, University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, Illinois

1982 – 1984    Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, University of Pennsylvania,                                   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1982 – 1984    Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University                           of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Academic Appointments

1984 – 1986    Instructor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School,                                        University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1986 – 1990    Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical                                    School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1986 – 1990    Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Management                                and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann                                    Arbor, Michigan

1988 – 1990    Assistant Professor, Department of History, College of Literature,                                Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1990 – 1997    Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical                                    School; Associate Professor, Department of Health Services                                          Management and Policy, School of Public Health; and Associate                                    Professor, Department of History, College of Literature, Science and                            the Arts; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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1997 –             Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Medical                           School; and Professor, Department of Health Management and                                  Policy, School of Public Health; and Professor, Department of History,                          College of Literature, Science and the Arts; University of Michigan,                                Ann Arbor, Michigan