David M. Oshinsky (born 1944) is an American historian, director of the Division of Medical Humanities at the NYU School of Medicine, and a professor in the Department of History at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Early life and education

Oshinsky graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1965 and obtained his PhD from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in 1971.

Career

Oshinsky won the annual Pulitzer Prize in History for his 2005 book, '' Polio: An American Story''. Oshinsky’s most recent book, ''Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital'', was published in 2016. His other books include the D.B. Hardeman Prize-winning '' A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy'', and the Robert Kennedy Prize-winning '' "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice''. His articles and reviews appear regularly in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

''. He previously held the Jack S. Blanton chair in history at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and prior to that he was a professor of history at Rutgers University New Brunswick.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * * * *

Selected articles

* * * * Oshinsky, David, "Vaccines at Warp Speed" (review of Thomas R. Cech, ''The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets'', Norton, 2024, 292 pp.), ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'', vol. LXXII, no. 5 (27 March 2025), pp. 48–50. In order to create

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

s " ere was no need, as with earlier vaccines, to grow, attenuate, and purify large amounts of

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

– in this case

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

– ... because the vaccine no longer contains it. Instead, synthetic

mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...

instructs the cells to create a harmless fragment of

that will trigger the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as Tumor immunology, cancer cells, Parasitic worm, parasitic ...

to recognize and destroy the virus... e body becomes the factory." (p. 49.) The success of the Covid-19 vaccines "recast the importance of RNA.... is almost a given, as he book's author Cech makes clear, that

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

will power the next generation of

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

s, which will move beyond

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

s to those caused by a 'missing or mutated

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

,' such as

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

, and numerous

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

s caused by 'normal cellular processes gone awry.'... he question arises, however:Will this growing focus on 'disease-driven research' overshadow the more traditional '

curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

-driven' research so vital to scientific advancement?" (p. 50.)

References

External links

David M. Oshinsky
Professor Emeritus, UT–Austin * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshinsky, David 1944 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Pulitzer Prize for History winners Cornell University alumni Brandeis University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Jewish American historians Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people American male non-fiction writers