SLCL’s Gale Medical Arts Series Presents Dr. Marty Markay on “Blind Spots”

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Gale Medical Arts Series is pleased to host Dr. Marty Makary for a discussion and signing of “Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health.”

The event will take place on Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Clark Family Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis MO 63131.

Johns Hopkins medical expert and bestselling author, Dr. Marty Makary presents an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm.

More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure.

How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks: Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment? 

Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared. They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis.

When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In “Blind Spots,” Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem.

Marty Makary, MD is a Johns Hopkins professor and member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is the author of two bestselling books, “Unaccountable” and “The Price We Pay,” winner of the 2020 Business Book of the Year Award. Dr. Makary has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he has published more than 250 scientific research articles. He served in leadership at the W.H.O. and has been a visiting professor at 25 medical schools.

The Arthur Gale Medical Arts Lecture Series at the St. Louis County Library was founded in 2015 by Dr. Arthur Gale with the purpose of increasing the public's knowledge and understanding of medicine and health care.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.