Looking to History for Solutions to Modern Pandemics

Webinar with Professor Efraim Lev

History is no stranger to global pandemics. Greek soldiers were hit with a deadly influenza in 430 B.C.E., the earliest recorded pandemic. Europe and Asia were decimated by the Black Death in the 1300s; cholera ran rampant in the 19th century; and HIV/AIDS afflicted modern times. Each has taught us something about how to manage their spread.

Professor Efraim Lev has mined the sacred Cairo Genizah manuscripts to investigate medical practices in Jewish Medieval Egypt. And, he has built a medical library of ancient physicians and pharmacists. In this webinar, Professor Lev discusses how civilizations of the past have dealt with epidemics and plagues.

Trained as both an historian and a field biologist, Efraim Lev is head of the Department of Humanities and Arts at the Technion, and an expert in the history of medicine and pharmacology in the Middle East, particularly the sacred Jewish manuscripts known as the Cairo Genizah. His academic work has a strong, interdisciplinary bent that has led to new historical insights.