AIHP is pleased to announce that the 2022 Edward Kremers Award has been awarded to Paula S. De Vos, Ph.D. for her book, Compound Remedies: Galenic Pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020).

AIHP awards the Edward Kremers Award biennially to recognize the author(s) of a book, or a series of related articles, published within the past five years, in the field of the history of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals, that exhibits high standards of scholarship, superior quality, and distinguished merit. The Edward Kremers Award honors Professor Edward Kremers (1865-1941), a pioneer of pharmacy education in the United States, distinguished historian of pharmacy, and one of AIHP’s founders.

Dr. De Vos is a Professor of History at the San Diego State University. She is a leading historian of pharmacy in colonial Spanish America. A panel of four historians of pharmacy, led by AIHP’s Historical Director, Lucas Richert, PhD, selected Dr. DeVos’ book from seven nomination received for this year’s Kremers Award.

In Compound Remedies, Dr. De Vos explores the natural substances with known healing powers that formed the basis for modern-day healing traditions and home remedies in Mexico. The book traces the evolution of the Galenic pharmaceutical tradition from its foundations in Ancient Greece to the physician-philosophers of the Islamic empires in the medieval Latin West and eventually through the Spanish Empire to Mexico, offering a global history of the transmission of these materials, knowledges, and techniques.

AIHP established the Edward Kremers Award in 1962. The Award was originally conferred upon a citizen of the United States for a scholarly publication, or a single series of interrelated publications, appearing anywhere in the world and pertaining primarily to historical or historico-social aspects of pharmacy. AIHP’s Board of Directors in 2020 eliminated the citizenship restriction, and the award is now conferred without regard to citizenship. Click here for listing of prior winners of the Edward Kremers Award.

Posted: August 30, 2022

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