[Sci-tech-public] STS Circle, February 14th - David Jones - (Please RSVP)

[Harvard STS]

*STS Circle at Harvard*
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*David Jones*
*STS, MIT*
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on

*"Strange Facts," Evocative Maps, and the Puzzles of Geographic Variation in
Medical Practice*
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Monday, February 14th
12:15-2:00 p.m.
124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room 106

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Lunch is provided if you RSVP.
Please RSVP to sts <sts at hks.harvard.edu>@hks.harvard.edu<sts at hks.harvard.edu>
 by 5pm Thursday, February 10th.

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*Abstract:* A puzzling phenomenon, long known to medical researchers, has
recently risen to prominence: unwarranted geographic variation in medical
practice.  I will trace the history of this problem in order to illustrate
three points.  First, practice variation only emerged as a problem in the
late twentieth century as new expectations of universal, scientific
practice, enforced through the discipline of evidence-based medicine,
created an expectation of geographic uniformity in therapeutic practice.
 Second, novel techniques of mapping and visual representation played a key
role in the emergence of the idea of unwarranted variation: researchers
deployed them strategically to motivate a policy response.  Third, efforts
to stamp out unwarranted variation have been stymied by the fundamental
irreducibility of the problem.  The causes of local variation in medical
practice themselves vary locally, something that disrupts simple policy
interventions.  Burgeoning calls for global health equity pose even greater
challenges for those committed to eradicating geographic variation in access
to medical resources.

*Biography*: David Jones studied medicine and history of science at Harvard
University and then trained in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital
and McLean Hospital.  He joined the MIT faculty in 2005 where he is now
Associate Professor of the History and Culture of Science and Technology.
 He also teaches at Harvard Medical School, where he directs the educational
programs of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine.  He has
published extensively on health inequalities and medical research.  His
current research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NSF,
explores the history of decision making in cardiac therapeutics.

A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard events can be found on our website:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/
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