{"title":"Henry E. Sigerist, (Nazi) Eugenics, and the \"Ideal of Prophylaxis\".","authors":"Mathias Schütz, Harold Braswell","doi":"10.2105/AJPH.2026.308760","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A Swiss physician, medical historian, and professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1932 to 1947, Henry E. Sigerist continues to inspire advocates of social medicine, public health, and radical health care reform. He was also an avowed eugenicist who failed to seriously confront Nazism. How did Sigerist's progressive ideology lead him to these positions? We argue that the key link was his concept of \"prophylaxis.\" For Sigerist, prophylaxis was an ideal that empowered the public health profession to take radical measures to prevent sickness and disability. This ideal led to his consistent support of eugenic sterilization and made him reticent to criticize Nazi policy. We argue that Sigerist's prophylactic antidisability bias is not merely a historic phenomenon but continues to exist in public health today. (<i>Am J Public Health</i>. Published online ahead of print October 8, 2026:e1-e7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308760).</p>","PeriodicalId":7647,"journal":{"name":"American journal of public health","volume":" ","pages":"e1-e7"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American journal of public health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308760","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A Swiss physician, medical historian, and professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1932 to 1947, Henry E. Sigerist continues to inspire advocates of social medicine, public health, and radical health care reform. He was also an avowed eugenicist who failed to seriously confront Nazism. How did Sigerist's progressive ideology lead him to these positions? We argue that the key link was his concept of "prophylaxis." For Sigerist, prophylaxis was an ideal that empowered the public health profession to take radical measures to prevent sickness and disability. This ideal led to his consistent support of eugenic sterilization and made him reticent to criticize Nazi policy. We argue that Sigerist's prophylactic antidisability bias is not merely a historic phenomenon but continues to exist in public health today. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 8, 2026:e1-e7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308760).
期刊介绍：
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) is dedicated to publishing original work in research, research methods, and program evaluation within the field of public health. The journal's mission is to advance public health research, policy, practice, and education.
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