The Museum’s four floors are filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings, illustrations and sculptures that interpret the pre-modern and modern healing practices of human civilization. From early practices to today’s revolutionary techniques, the Museum’s collections and exhibits portray the mysteries, breakthroughs, failures, and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science.
Currently on View
A History of Blood Transfusion: 350 Years of Apparatus Advancement
Wound Healing: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Technologies
Rx For Success: Health Career Center
Nursing: Care for a Changing World
Windows on the World: The Science of Sight & The Ophthalmic Art
Diagnostic Detectives: Pathology in Modern Medical Practice
Anatomical Illustration
Pain & Pain Management
X-Rays and Medical Imaging
19th Century Apothecary
The Hall of Immortals – Sculptures by Louis Linck & Edouard Chaissing
The Hall of Murals – Paintings by Count Gregorio Calvi di Bergolo
Surgicogenomics: Genes and Stem-cells in Surgery
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Spanish Mural Gallery
Japan Hall of Fame
Contemporary Art Galleries:
The International Museum of Surgical Science supports a commitment to contemporary art and artists through exhibitions and programs that use the frame of contemporary artistic practice to examine new perspectives in surgical science and our relationship to the body. The Museum’s Contemporary Arts Initiative includes rotating exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as an ongoing Artist in Residence program.
David Allen: Mastectomy Tattoos and Post-Surgery Healing
(August 31 – November 25, 2018)
Past Exhibitions
2018
FLUX: Responding to Head and Neck Cancer (May – August 2018)
Art with Heart: The Work of Biomedical Visualization Students (March – May 2018)
Surgeons and Quacks (2017 – 2018)
A World Without Polio (2009-2018)
2017
The Screening Room: AIDS Advocacy Selections from the Video Data Bank (November/December 2017)
Carrie Olivia Adams – Artist in Residence Capstone Exhibition (August 2017 – October 2017)
Soft Sculpture (May 2017 – October 2017)
Vincent Tiley: Material Eyes (May 2017 – July 2017)
Inside the World of Medical Art – Group Art Exhibition (April 2017 – May 2017)
ATOM-r: Kjell Theøry, Prologue – Artist in Residence Capstone Exhibition (January 2017 – April 2017)
Provident Hospital: A Living Legacy (February 2016 – March 2017)
Whit Forrester: Affinity in the Tall Grasses of California (November 2016 – February 2017)
2016
The Screening Room: AIDS Advocacy Selections from the Video Data Bank (November/December 2016)
Haunted House: Artists Respond to Site – Group Art Exhibition (March/July 2016)
Beyond Broken Bones: The Story of Orthopedics and Prosthetics (2007-2016)
Supporting Structure: Understanding the Spine & Spinal Surgery (2007-2016)
2015
Then and Now: 35 Years of HIV/AIDS (December 2015)
Stevie Hanley: Synaesthetica (August/November 2015)
To inquire about exhibitions presented or ending before 2015, please contact Museum staff.
