Expanding the Legacy: The National Library of Medicine Michael E. DeBakey Lecture in the History of Medicine.

In our 2021 article published in this journal, we described the development, historical significance, and impact of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Michael E. DeBakey fellowship in the History of Medicine. This article focuses on a key part of the fellowship, the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Lecture in the History of Medicine, by explaining how this annual program advances historical scholarship and promotes awareness of DeBakey's legacy and his support of the world's largest biomedical library, whose collections are appreciated by researchers worldwide. The annual DeBakey Lecture provides a platform for a selected DeBakey fellow to share and expand on their fellowship research, connecting that research and the fellow's story with a global audience through a videocast, a permanently and freely available archived lecture, a research-based blog post, and an associated blog interview. The lectures have covered topics about DeBakey himself, his influence on the world, and new research that reflects his historical interests. The library's support of this impactful program, like the Michael E. DeBakey fellowship overall, testifies to its commitment to expanding the legacy of DeBakey hand in hand with its commitment to serving scientists and society in the 21st century.

Donald A. B. Lindberg: Inspiring Leader and Visionary in Biomedicine, Healthcare, and Informatics.

BACKGROUND: As Director of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) for 30 years, Dr. Donald A. B. Lindberg was instrumental in bringing biomedical research and healthcare worldwide into the age of genomic and translational medicine through the informatics systems developed by the NLM. Lindberg opened free access and worldwide public dissemination of all the NLM's biomedical literature and databases, thus helping transform not only biomedical research like the Human Genome Project and its successors, but also the practices of medicine and healthcare internationally. Guiding, leading, and teaching-by-example at national, regional, and global levels of biomedical and healthcare informatics, Lindberg helped coalesce a dynamic discipline that provides a foundation for the human understanding which promotes the future health of our world. OBJECTIVES: To provide historical insight into the scientific, technological, and practical clinical accomplishments of Donald Lindberg, and to describe how this led to contributions in the worldwide interdisciplinary evolution of informatics, and its impact on the biosciences and practices of medicine, nursing, and other healthcare-related disciplines. METHODS: Review and comment on the publications, scientific contributions, and leadership of Donald Lindberg in the evolution of biomedical and health informatics which anticipate the vision, scholarship, research in the field, and represent the deeply ethical humanism he exhibited throughout his life. These were essential in producing the informatics systems, such as the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, and ClinicalTrials.gov, which, together with NLM training programs and conferences, made possible the interactions among researchers and practitioners leading to the past quarter-century of rapid and dramatic advances in biomedical scientific inquiry and clinical discoveries, openly shared across the globe. CONCLUSION: Dr. Lindberg was a uniquely talented physician and pioneering researcher in biomedical and health informatics. As the main leader in developing and funding innovative informatics research for more than 30 years as Director of the National Library of Medicine, he helped bring together the most creative interdisciplinary researchers to bridge the worlds of biomedical research, education, and clinical practice. Lindberg's emphasis on open-access to the biomedical literature through publicly shared computer-mediated methods of search and inquiry are seen as an example of ethical scientific openness.

An historical overview of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, 1985-2015.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM), established as the Regional Medical Library Program in 1965, has a rich and remarkable history. The network's first twenty years were documented in a detailed 1987 history by Alison Bunting, AHIP, FMLA. This article traces the major trends in the network's development since then: reconceiving the Regional Medical Library staff as a "field force" for developing, marketing, and distributing a growing number of National Library of Medicine (NLM) products and services; subsequent expansion of outreach to health professionals who are unaffiliated with academic medical centers, particularly those in public health; the advent of the Internet during the 1990s, which brought the migration of NLM and NNLM resources and services to the World Wide Web, and a mandate to encourage and facilitate Internet connectivity in the network; and the further expansion of the NLM and NNLM mission to include providing consumer health resources to satisfy growing public demand. The concluding section discusses the many challenges that NNLM staff faced as they transformed the network from a system that served mainly academic medical researchers to a larger, denser organization that offers health information resources to everyone.

The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB): background, recent enhancements and future plans.

The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program is responsible for the management of the online Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB). HSDB, a part of NLM's Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET(®)), is a file of chemical/substance information with one record for each specific chemical or substance, or for a category of chemicals or substances. Like the rest of TOXNET's databases and other resources, HSDB is available online at no cost to global users. HSDB has approximately 5600 chemicals and substances, with a focus on toxicology information and also on human exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling procedures, environmental fate, regulatory requirements, and related areas of likely interest to HSDB users. All data are from a core set of books, government documents, technical reports, selected primary journal literature, and other online sources of information, with a goal of linking the HSDB content to as much publicly available information as possible. HSDB's content is peer-reviewed by the Scientific Review Panel, a group of experts in the areas covering the scope of HSDB content. Recent enhancements include the addition of chemical structures to HSDB records, the addition of new subfields such as age groups for human data, more occupational exposure standards, and the addition of information on numerous nanomaterials. Examples of future plans include providing more exposure-related information, e.g., uses of a chemical or substance in consumer products; the addition of information summaries aimed towards consumers and other members of the public wanting to learn about a chemical or substance; more visual content such as diagrams (images) of the pathways of metabolism of a substance; and enhanced search features and navigation.

175 años de la National Library of Medicine, de los EE.UU. de NA: un tesoro científico y cultural digno de admiración / 175 years of the National Library of Medicine, of the Unites States of America: a scientific and cultural treasure worthy of admiration

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) of the United States of America, celebrates in 2011 its 175th anniversary. This Library, the largest biomedical library in the world, has a proud and rich history serving the health community and the public, especially since its transfer to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1968. It holds 17 million publications in 150 languages, and has an important collection of ancient and modern historical books as well as original publications of Vesalius and other founders of biomedicine. Its modern document collections illustrate the progress of medical sciences. These collections include laboratory notes from many scientists whose work forms the foundations of contemporary life sciences. The Library also provides several services for health research and for the public, including databases and services such as MedLine and BLAST. The NLM constantly strives to fulfill the information needs of its customers, whether scientists or the public at large. For example, as the Hispanic population of the Unites States has increased in recent years, the NLM has made larger and larger amounts of data available in Spanish to fulfill the health information needs of this population. NLM programs train professionals in library science and biomedical informatics and link biomedical libraries of 18 academic centers throughout the United States. The NLM funds competitive grants for training at the Library, organizing short instruction courses about library science and informatics, and writing books on health related matters including the history of medicine and public health. The NLM is managed and maintained by an outstanding and farsighted group of professionals and dedicated support staff. Their focus on serving and reaching both the biomedical community and the public at large has been crucial to its development into a world icon of biomedical sciences, information technology and the humanities.

[175 years of the National Library of Medicine, of the United States of America: a scientific and cultural treasure worthy of admiration]. / 175 años de la National Library of Medicine, de los EE.UU. de NA: un tesoro científico y cultural digno de admiración.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) of the United States of America, celebrates in 2011 its 175th anniversary. This Library, the largest biomedical library in the world, has a proud and rich history serving the health community and the public, especially since its transfer to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1968. It holds 17 million publications in 150 languages, and has an important collection of ancient and modern historical books as well as original publications of Vesalius and other founders of biomedicine. Its modern document collections illustrate the progress of medical sciences. These collections include laboratory notes from many scientists whose work forms the foundations of contemporary life sciences. The Library also provides several services for health research and for the public, including databases and services such as MedLine and BLAST. The NLM constantly strives to fulfill the information needs of its customers, whether scientists or the public at large. For example, as the Hispanic population of the Unites States has increased in recent years, the NLM has made larger and larger amounts of data available in Spanish to fulfill the health information needs of this population. NLM programs train professionals in library science and biomedical informatics and link biomedical libraries of 18 academic centers throughout the United States. The NLM funds competitive grants for training at the Library, organizing short instruction courses about library science and informatics, and writing books on health related matters including the history of medicine and public health. The NLM is managed and maintained by an outstanding and farsighted group of professionals and dedicated support staff. Their focus on serving and reaching both the biomedical community and the public at large has been crucial to its development into a world icon of biomedical sciences, information technology and the humanities.

Presentation of the 2009 Morris F Collen Award to Betsy L Humphreys, with remarks from the recipient.

The American College of Medical Informatics is an honorary society established to recognize those who have made sustained contributions to the field. Its highest award, for lifetime achievement and contributions to the discipline of medical informatics, is the Morris F Collen Award. Dr Collen's own efforts as a pioneer in the field stand out as the embodiment of creativity, intellectual rigor, perseverance, and personal integrity. The Collen Award, given once a year, honors an individual whose attainments have, throughout a whole career, substantially advanced the science and art of biomedical informatics. In 2009, the college was proud to present the Collen Award to Betsy Humphreys, MLS, deputy director of the National Library of Medicine. Ms Humphreys has dedicated her career to enabling more effective integration and exchange of electronic information. Her work has involved new knowledge sources and innovative strategies for advancing health data standards to accomplish these goals. Ms Humphreys becomes the first librarian to receive the Collen Award. Dr Collen, on the occasion of his 96th birthday, personally presented the award to Ms Humphreys.

Michael E. DeBakey: reformer of cardiovascular surgery.

In cardiac medicine, Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey is the undisputed pioneer of this century, maybe even in history. The design of the ventricular assist device (VAD), the Dacron-created artificial blood vessel and his many other firsts revolutionized heart surgery (specifically aortic surgery) forever. In fact, his contributions were enormous and left and amazing legacy. DeBakey was known to have a temper and that he was a very difficult surgeon to work with. However, even his critics could not deny the impact he had on the world of medicine. In his early nineties, he still practiced surgery. DeBakey was a man that accomplished all he set out to do and died on early July 2008.