Victoria A. Harden Explained

Victoria A. Harden
Workplaces:	National Institutes of Health
Discipline:	History of U.S. biomedical research
Education:	Emory University (BA) University of Florida (MA) Emory University (PhD)
Birth Name:	Victoria Angela Harden
Occupation:	Medical historian
Thesis Title:	Toward a National Institute of Health: The Development of Federal Biomedical Research Policy, 1900-1930
Thesis Url:	https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/427990650
Thesis Year:	1983
Doctoral Advisor:	James Harvey Young

Victoria Angela Harden is an American medical historian who was the founding director of the Office of NIH History and the Stetten Museum at the National Institutes of Health. Most known for organizing conferences and publishing works on the history of HIV/AIDS, Harden also authored books on the history of the NIH and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. She is a past president of the Society for History in the Federal Government.

Education

Harden completed a B.A. in American history at Emory University in 1966. She finished a M.A. at University of Florida in 1968.^[1] Harden earned a Ph.D. in American history at Emory University in 1983. Her doctoral advisor was James Harvey Young. She conducted much of her dissertation research as a fellow at the National Museum of American History. During a post-doctoral year at the Institute for the History of Medicine of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she was supported by a grant from the United States National Library of Medicine and completed work on Inventing the NIH: Federal Biomedical Research Policy, 1887-1937 (1986).^[2]

Career

From 1984-1986 Harden was on the staff of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), researching and writing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: History of a Twentieth-Century Disease (1990). It won the 1991 Henry Adams prize of the Society for History in the Federal Government for the best book published in 1990 about the history of the federal government. In 1989 and 1993 Harden organized conferences on the history of AIDS. The proceedings were published as AIDS and the Historian (1991) and AIDS and the Public Debate: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (1995). In June 2001, she launched a website commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the first publication about AIDS: In Their Own Words: NIH Researchers Recall the Early Years of AIDS. During the 1986-87 observance of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) centennial, Harden oversaw the creation and development of the Stetten Museum at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of NIH History. She served as its director until her retirement in 2006. Harden continues to serve the office as a special volunteer.

Harden has served on the executive councils of the American Historical Association and the American Association for the History of Medicine. In 1993-94, she served as president of the Washington Society for the History of Medicine and in 1998-99 as president of the Society for History in the Federal Government. In 2006, she was awarded the Herbert Feis prize for outstanding contributions to public history by the American Historical Association, and in 2007 the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Association for the History of Medicine.

In 2012, Harden published AIDS at 30: A History, an overview of the epidemic emphasizing the response of the medical community—physicians and nurses, public health officials, and biomedical researchers—to AIDS.

Selected works

Books

• Book: Harden, Victoria Angela. Inventing the NIH: Federal Biomedical Research Policy, 1887-1937. 1986. Johns Hopkins University Press. 978-0-8018-3071-6. en. ^[3]
• Book: Harden, Victoria A.. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: History of a Twentieth-century Disease. 1990. Johns Hopkins University Press. 978-0-8018-3905-4. en. ^[4]
• Book: Harden, Victoria A.. AIDS at 30: A History. Potomac Books. 2012. 978-1-61234-516-1. en. ^[5]

Edited volumes

• Book: AIDS and the Historian: Proceedings of a Conference at the National Institutes of Health, 20-21 March 1989. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health. 1991. Harden. Victoria Angela. en. Risse. Guenter B.. Guenter B. Risse.
• Book: AIDS and the Public Debate: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. IOS Press; Ohmsha. 1995. 978-90-5199-190-1. Hannaway. Caroline. Amsterdam; Washington, DC; Tokyo. en. 32964619. Harden. Victoria A.. Parascandola. John. John Parascandola. ^[6]
• Book: Mind, Brain, Body, and Behavior: Foundations of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institutes of Health. 2004. IOS Press. 978-1-58603-471-9. Farreras. Ingrid G.. en. Hannaway. Caroline. Harden. Victoria Angela. ^[7]

Journal articles

• D'Souza. M. Patricia. Harden. Victoria. December 1996. Chemokines and HIV–1 Second Receptors. Nature Medicine. en. 2. 12. 1293–1300. 10.1038/nm1296-1293. 8946819. 34538821. 1546-170X.
• Harden. Victoria A.. 1992. Koch's Postulates and the Etiology of AIDS: An Historical Perspective. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. en. 14. 2 . 245–65. 1342726 .
• Harden. Victoria A.. Winter 1985. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Research and the Development of the Insect Vector Theory, 1900-1930. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. en. 59. 4 . 449–466. 3912018 .

Notes and References

1. Toward a National Institute of Health: The Development of Federal Biomedical Research Policy, 1900-1930. University Microfilms International. 1984. Ann Arbor, MI. en. Victoria Angela. Harden. Ph.D.. 427990650.
2. Web site: Victoria A. Harden. 2020-12-23. Office of NIH History.
3. Reviews of Inventing the NIH:
   • Kohler. Robert E.. 1987. Review. Isis. 78. 2. 263–264. 10.1086/354409. 0021-1753. 231541.
   • Park. Rosemary. Rosemary Park. 1987. Review. Change. 19. 6. 62. 10.1080/00091383.1987.10570171. 0009-1383. 40177638.
   • Duffy. John. 1987. Review. The American Historical Review. 92. 3. 755. 10.2307/1870076. 0002-8762. 1870076.
   • White. Suzanne. 1989. NIH Origins. Pharmacy in History. 31. 4. 187–188. 0031-7047. 41111261.
   • Grob. Gerald N.. 1987. New Wine in New Bottles: The History of Health Policy. Reviews in American History. 15. 3. 365–373. 10.2307/2702030. 0048-7511. 2702030.
   • HC. 1987. Review. American Studies. 28. 2. 63. 0026-3079. 40642224.
   • Fox. Daniel M.. 1987. Review. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 42. 1. 125–126. 10.1093/jhmas/42.1.125. 0022-5045. 24632868.
   • Pauly. Philip J.. 1987. Review. Journal of the History of Biology. 20. 3. 423–424. 0022-5010. 4331026.
   • Viseltear. Arthur J.. 1987. Review. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 61. 2. 289–291. 0007-5140. 44444117.
4. Reviews of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever:
   • Johnson. Judith R.. 1991. Review. Environmental History Review. en. 15. 1. 93–94. 10.2307/3984676. 1053-4180. 3984676.
   • Lerner. Barron H.. Barron H. Lerner. 1994. Review. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 49. 1. 138–140. 10.1093/jhmas/49.1.138. 0022-5045. 24623319.
   • Farley. John. 1992. Review. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 66. 2. 331–332. 0007-5140. 44451466.
   • Rogers. Naomi. 1992. Review. Isis. 83. 2. 358–359. 10.1086/356181. 0021-1753. 234575.
   • Howell. Joel D.. 1991. Review. The Journal of American History. 78. 2. 702–703. 10.2307/2079629. 0021-8723. 2079629.
   • Etheridge. Elizabeth W.. 1992. Review. The Western Historical Quarterly. 23. 1. 118–119. 10.2307/970289. 0043-3810. 970289.
5. Reviews of AIDS at 30:
   • Boyle. Eric W.. May 2013. Review. The Public Historian. en. 35. 2. 111–113. 10.1525/tph.2013.35.2.111. 0272-3433.
   • Nelson. K. E.. December 2014. Review. American Journal of Epidemiology. en. 180. 12. 1213–1214. 10.1093/aje/kwu336. 0002-9262. free.
   • Adler. R.. October 2012. Review. Choice Reviews. 50. 2. 314. 0009-4978. 1523-8253.
   • Royles. Dan. December 2014. Review. Isis. en. 105. 4. 867–868. 10.1086/680300. 0021-1753.
6. Reviews of AIDS and the Public Debate:
   • Erlen. Jonathon. 1996. Review. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 51. 4. 517–519. 10.1093/jhmas/51.4.517. 0022-5045. 24624435.
   • Fee. Elizabeth. Elizabeth Fee. 1996. Review. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 70. 4. 743–744. 0007-5140. 44444761.
7. Review of Mind, Brain, and Behavior:
   • Rowland. Lewis P.. Lewis Rowland. 2006. Review. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 80. 2. 396–398. 0007-5140. 44448421.