Vida Latham

Vida Annette Latham (1866–1958) was a British-American dentist, physician, microscopist, and researcher, known for her work in publishing and her research on oral tumors, surgery, and anatomy.

Early life and education

Vida Latham was born in Lancashire in 1866 to a physician father. Her early education took place in Cambridge and Manchester. She earned her master's degree from the University of London in 1889; she published papers on tooth anatomy and pain in 1888 while working at a London dentist's office. She then moved to the United States because she could not practice in the UK with an American dentistry degree. She earned her DDS in 1892 from the University of Michigan,[1] and her MD from Northwestern University in 1895.[1][2][3]

Career and research

While studying for her DDS, she was a demonstrator in comparative dental anatomy and pathological bacteriology as well as a museum curator. While studying for her MD, Latham was a secretary and lectured in stomatology and dental surgery at Northwestern, and in pharmacy. She served as an oral surgeon at the Women's and Children's hospital from 1892–1897. Concurrently, she was on the faculty of the American Dental College, though she held this position until 1898. Latham was a member of Chicago's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1902. She joined the Illinois State Dental Society in 1918 and became a lifelong member.[1] From 1929–1931 she was an attending physician at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, where she spent the rest of her career from 1929 on as a microanalyst and physician.[2][3]

Latham was also a prolific journal and book editor, including the Medical Woman's Journal, the Polk Dental Dictionary, and the Standard Medical Dictionary. She researched throughout her career on oral surgery, operative dentistry, the neural anatomy of the jaw and teeth, palate tumors, oral cavity cysts, facial fractures, lead poisoning, aniline dyes, specimen preparation, blood tests for diabetes, the vasomotor system of teeth, and neoplasms of the tooth pulp.[2][3]

She spent her career advocating for a more rigorous dentistry curriculum and for women in both dentistry and medicine.[2][3]

Honors and professional memberships

Selected articles

  • Suggestions for Amateur Microscopists (1912)[7]
  • A Plea for Symposium Work. Pondlife and New Methods of Narcotizing Polyzoa Rotifera (1909)[8]
  • What is the Best Method of Teaching Microscopical Science in Medical Schools? (1897)[9]
  • A Plea for the Study of Re-Agents in Micro Work (1894)[10]
  • A Brief Account of the Microscopial Anatomy in a Case of Chrome Lead Poisoning (1891)[11]
  • The Use of Stains, Especially with Reference to Their Value for Differential Diagnosis (1891)[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Paul, Rae (May 1976). "The Journal of Vida Latham (1866–1958)". Illinois Dental Journal. 45 (5): 284–285. PMID 801819.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harvey, Joy Dorothy; Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. p. 750. ISBN 9780415920384.
  3. ^ a b c d "Vida Annette Latham (1866–1958) | University of Michigan School of Dentistry". www.dent.umich.edu. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Back Matter". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 26 (Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting): 299. December 1905. JSTOR 3220967.
  5. ^ "Front Matter". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 26 (Twenth-Seventh Annual Meeting): 4. December 1905. JSTOR 3220954.
  6. ^ Latham, Vida A. (January 1913). "Notes from Meeting of the Illinois Microscopical Society, Chicago". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 32 (1): 75–76. JSTOR 3221373.
  7. ^ Latham, Vida A. (July 1912). "Suggestions for Amateur Microscopists". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 31 (3): 203–205. JSTOR 3221000.
  8. ^ Latham, Vida A. (December 1909). "A Plea for Symposium Work. Pondlife and New Methods of Narcotizing Polyzoa Rotifer". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 29 (1): 67–70. doi:10.2307/3220972. JSTOR 3220972.
  9. ^ Latham, Vida A. (March 1897). "What is the Best Method of Teaching Microscopical Science in Medical Schools?". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 18 (Nineteenth Annual Meeting): 311–320. doi:10.2307/3221119. JSTOR 3221119.
  10. ^ Latham, Vida A. (June 1894). "A Plea for the Study of Re-Agents in Micro Work". Proceedings of the American Microscopical Society. 15 (4, Sixteenth Annual Meeting. Part IV): 209–211. doi:10.2307/3220732. JSTOR 3220732.
  11. ^ Latham, Vida A. (1891). "A Brief Account of the Microscopial Anatomy in a Case of Chrome Lead Poisoning". Proceedings of the American Society of Microscopists. 13 (Fourteenth Annual Meeting): 110–115. doi:10.2307/3220395. JSTOR 3220395.
  12. ^ Latham, Vida A. (1891). "The Use of Stains, Especially with Reference to Their Value for Differential Diagnosis". Proceedings of the American Society of Microscopists. 13 (Fourteenth Annual Meeting): 94–109. doi:10.2307/3220394. JSTOR 3220394.