CELL*WISE

The International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) happens to be in Chicago, the great city in which I currently reside. The museum is actually in a historic lakeside mansion that was built in 1917, and in 1950 it was acquired by Dr. Max Thorek and the International College of Surgeons (which was founded in 1935). After renovation and forming the initial Museum collections, it opened to the public as the Museum in 1954. In 1988, it was added to the National and Illinois Registers of Historic Places and became a City of Chicago Landmark.
The Mission of the Museum is to "enrich people's lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history, development, and advances of surgery and related subjects on health and medicine."

I visited to the IMSS several months ago, and I have to say that it far exceeded my expectations, and overall it was a great experience. The whole place is not that big, but if you go, and especially if you are quite interested in surgical science/medicine, then you should still allow at least 1-2 hours so that you can comfortably stroll through the several exhibits/floors. I think going to this museum would be interesting even for people not in the science/medicine field. I would assume that most all of us humans have been in a hospital before to have some kind of surgical procedure performed or for some medical issue, so there should be something there to which anyone could relate. Or maybe you are not that interested in surgical science, but you are going along with someone else who is, in which case there are still many funny/interesting/historic things to look at in that old mansion. There is also a good amount of fine art (historic and contemporary) including statues and mural paintings. Come to think of it, it may be the best Museum to go to around this time with Halloween and all, because it can be bit creepy with all the surgical tools and paintings of surgical operations (more on that below, with a photo slideshow!).

When I visited the IMSS, there were several different exhibits, some regarding pain relief/anesthesia, milestones in medical imaging, nursing, understanding the spine and spinal surgery, ophthalmology, and history and technology associated with cardiovascular surgery. There was even a room with a turn of the century dentist's office and an apothecary shop, in which a fake pharmacist dude was standing and I think would talk to you, which was fun and slightly creepy.

Of most interest to me was the newest exhibit that is still going on now, Beyond Broken Bones, which was made possible by the generous support of many companies that I have listed in right sidebar. As the description reads, this exhibit "highlights the past, present, and potential of medical innovations for diagnosing and treating injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system." It includes discoveries and milestones of orthopedic surgery, and amputation methods and prosthetics of old and new. While reading one of the large-scale text and image displays, I was delighted to see that there was a section on Tissue Engineering, which I really didn't expect to see at all in this Museum.

This fall there is going to be a new exhibit which sounds great, titled "Learning from the Lab: Genetics and Medicine". I guess that will begin very soon, and I think I'll have to go back for this one. Anyone want to go with me?

So, if you are ever on Lake Shore Drive (just south of North Avenue) in Chicago and have an hour or two, check out the International Museum of Surgical Science, even if you are not work in medicine or science. Plus, where else can you get a magic thinking cap, Little Joe Torso, a plush toy of E. coli, anatomical key rings, a lumbar vertebra mug, a glow-in-the-dark finger bone pen, bone or muscle socks, or this awesome Blinded by Science T-shirt!

I have many pictures from my IMSS excursion that I would like to share, so I have put them into a slideshow below. I think the slideshow will play automatically, so you will probably have to replay it by the time you get to the end of this post. There are also options to pause it or speed it up.

I will list here what are in each of the 9 photos, by my own brief titles.
Most of these photos that I show are related to biomedical engineering and biomaterials (past, present, and future). I had other pictures of interesting rooms, statues, and paintings in Museum but they are less relevant to this blog, and you can see some of them by clicking on the different exhibits here.)

1. Outside and entrance of the International Museum of Surgical Science
2. Old Surgical Tools (which looks like it could be a scene from the Saw or Hostel horror movies!)
3. Old Spine Back Pain Treatment
4. Old Limb Prosthetics
5. Modern Joint Replacements
6. Poster of History of Surgical Sutures (absorbable and non-absorbable polymers)
7. Modern Artificial Heart Valve Replacements
8. Room dedicated to history and technology associated with cardiovascular surgery
9. Poster display about biomaterials and tissue engineering for musculoskeletal tissue repair (click link for big view of this)

I hope you enjoy the slideshow!