Hannah Fagen

Hannah Fagen

Contributor

Hannah is a recent graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was an undergraduate in the History and Sociology of Science department and studied the history of medicine and public health as well as nutrition. She is currently a student in Bryn Mawr College’s Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program. Her senior thesis, “The Happiest Place in the Hospital: Newborn Nurseries in American Hospitals, a History,” explores hospital-based care for healthy newborns as it relates to maternal healthcare, ideas about ideal motherhood, and the visual display of newborns. Hannah plans to pursue a multidisciplinary career in maternal and infant health.

History

Handmaids, Hospitals, and The Pageantry of the Newborn Nursery Window

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Sixteen minutes into the second episode of Hulu’s new Handmaid’s Tale, Offred (Elizabeth Moss), having recently given birth to her first child, follows a nurse to the hospital’s newborn nursery, where her baby will have her first bath. Arriving at the nursery, Offred is taken aback by an unusual sight. “Where are the babies?” she… Read more →

Bites of History

Elimination Diets: Medical & Dietary Detective Work

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After a lengthy, expensive, and invasive process, I received a diagnosis of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a hard to pronounce and fairly rare — but increasingly common — chronic allergic disorder. Hesitant to accept a lifelong diagnosis and the sick person’s role I imagined would come with it, I asked my physician what would happen if… Read more →