Granted unprecedented access to Philadelphia’s famous museum of medical oddities, specimens, and antique medical equipment, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz has penned an in-depth and revelatory biography of its eccentric and brilliant founder, Thomas Dent Mütter. Once described as the “P.T. Barnum of the surgery room,” the flamboyant and forward-thinking Mütter helped established Philadelphia as the epicenter for global medical innovation. A museum exhibit based on the book will open on the same day as the book’s release. Aptowicz is also the author of six books of poetry, as well as another book of nonfiction, Words in Your Face: Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. 

In conversation with F. Michael Angelo, M.A., University Archivist and Head of Historic Collections, Thomas Jefferson University

Note: unfortunately one of the channels failed during the recording of this podcast. As a result, you will have to turn up your sound to at least 11 in order to improve the quality. Do it. The discussion was both informative and entertaining.