The Universal Condition: Enduring and Alleviating Pain
Nearly every human being experiences pain at some point in life. This exhibit examines issues in the perception of pain and chronicles medicine’s quest to relieve it, from the ancient use of psychoactive plants to contemporary laser therapy, focusing on milestones such as the discovery of anesthesia.

Milestones in Medical Imaging: 21st Century Medicine
Radiopharmaceuticals, the gamma camera, the PET scanner, and the balloon catheter have revolutionized the world of medical imaging. These new imaging technologies form the basis of 21st century medicine, allowing doctors an unparalleled look inside the body.

Nursing: Care for a Changing World
From the wise women of ancient ceremonies to certified medical specialists, nurses have made their own path in the world, innovating and organizing to bring care from the operating table to the battlefields. Nursing has rarely been more important than today and remains a profession ever striving for new roles to care for the world.

The Japan Hall of Fame
Japanese surgeons have exported many great medical advances around the world, pioneering such surgical frontiers as ultrasound, anesthetics and surgical stapling. This exhibit highlights many of the contributions Japanese surgeons have made to modern surgical science.

Milestones in Medical Imaging: From X-Ray to Nuclear Medicine
“ I didn’t think, I investigated” – with these wordsin 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen acknowledged the discovery of a major landmark in modernlife: the x-ray. This exhibit interprets the fascinating story of the medicalimaging pioneers and the progress in over a century of medical imaging.

Supporting Structure: Understanding the Spine and Spinal Surgery
Following Hippocrates’ declaration that knowledge of the spine “is the requisite of understanding many diseases,” this exhibit pays tribute to the spine’s important role in the body by highlighting historical methods of treating spinal injury, and showcasing the technological and surgical advances that have revolutionized the field.

Windows to the World: The Science of Sight and the Ophthalmic Art
Through over 1,000 objects, the collection illustrates a comprehensive history of ophthalmology and the development of spectacles and other vision aids. Located in a striking gallery within the Museum’s historic landmark mansion, this exhibit is one of the most extensive exhibits on ophthalmic history in the United States, and the largest in the Midwest.

Conquering Heart Disease: A Surgeon’s Perspective
The exhibit explains the history and the state-of-the-art technology associated with cardiovascular surgery, including pacemakers; surgery to prevent stroke; abdominal aortic aneurysm; coronary artery bypass; the heart/lung machine; heart transplantation; and the artificial heart.

Anatomy in the Gallery
This rotating exhibition program showcases medically themed contemporary art within the unique context of the Museum’s historical exhibits and collections. The program was begun in 1998 to help fulfill the Museum’s mission.

Medicina Latinoamericana
Latin American countries contributed to the advancements of surgical science for centuries. Not only have they built institutions that forge advancements in medicine and still thrive today. This exhibit highlights the stories of surgical pioneers that developed groundbreaking procedures, instruments, and medicines used internationally.

Turn of the Century Apothecary Shop
Rows of patent medicines, a prescription book and tools of the trade take you inside Dr. Uriah Jones’s Apothecary. This shop was created from two pharmacies originally located in upstate New York and Iowa. Near the apothecary are an early 20th century dentist’s office and an exhibit on patent medicines.

Polio Exhibit
The centerpiece of this exhibit is a rare working iron lung. The iron lung along with posters from the March of Dimes campaign bring back many forgotten memories of the fear of an incurable disease.