CEN Director Edward Bilsky speaks at the York County Senior College Lecture Series
On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, Edward Bilsky, Ph.D., gave a talk entitled 鈥淲oodrow Wilson and the Great Influenza Epidemic鈥 as part of the York County Senior College Lecture Series. Dr. Bilsky, a professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, linked potential neurological effects of the influenza virus to the more general effects that it had on the United States and the World at the close of World War I.
The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed tens of millions of people worldwide. Beyond that immediate impact on human life, the pandemic also had profound and lasting effects on public health, medical education and biomedical research. Dr. Bilsky reviewed the connections between the influenza, the war efforts in the United States, and the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. The potential impact that the influenza had on Wilson鈥檚 negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles was also actively discussed with the participants. More than 45 seniors participated in the event that helped highlight the positive links between the University of 51小黄车 and local Maine communities.