Spring 2027

Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: an Introduction to the History of Medicine

Survey of how the body as a site of sickness has been understood from Antiquity to contemporary medicine, including public health origins, the social role of healers, and the modern standardized body.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Expect to read and analyze 2-3 readings weekly, which can be long and challenging. Professor Jacobson provides questions to guide understanding, and grading was reported as easy.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify important themes, theories, events, and people in the global history of medicine from Antiquity to the present day.

  • Describe how historical medical systems were developed in the context of an interconnected world.

  • Analyze the ways in which understandings of bodies, diseases, and healers are influenced by society and culture, and change over time.

  • Contextualize modern health debates and systems within the history of medicine.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

NICHOLAS JACOBSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS BROMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TRAVIS WEISSE is recorded teaching in Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1630
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 333Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1630
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 333Classroom Instruction0 / 00

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Professor Jacobson is described as an engaging lecturer who helps students catch up if they miss class. Students found the content interesting and easy to follow when paying attention to his notes.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.63 GPA, 87.0% A/AB (n=108 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.84 GPA, 91.3% A/AB (n=138 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 77.9% A/AB (n=131 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Expect to read and analyze 2-3 readings weekly, which can be long and challenging. Professor Jacobson provides questions to guide understanding, and grading was reported as easy.

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Students noted that attending lectures and reviewing reading summaries was often sufficient to do well. Professor Jacobson was praised for being available to meet with students who missed class.

Topics

  • Conceptions of the body as a site of sickness from Antiquity to contemporary medicine.
  • Origins and evolution of public health, the changing social role of healers, and the emergence of the modern standardized body.

Skills

  • Identify themes, theories, events, and people in the global history of medicine.
  • Describe the development of historical medical systems in an interconnected world.
  • Analyze how societal and cultural influences shape understandings of bodies, diseases, and healers.
  • Contextualize modern health debates and systems within medical history.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 3 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212 · Spring 2027

Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine

Recorded 2026-10-14
HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212 · Spring 2027

Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:452:009561",
    "course_id": "HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212",
    "course_uid": "course_e72d5255fc3590f83c4dd955",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "009561",
    "source_subject_id": "452",
    "title": "Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "offering_id": "1274:456:009561",
    "course_id": "HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212",
    "course_uid": "course_e72d5255fc3590f83c4dd955",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "009561",
    "source_subject_id": "456",
    "title": "Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "838c64f5cc9466a851f775ed053d7dcd913d3e4b0bde68fe6acd9cf26bcc05e1",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}