Greek physicians and other ancient healers have recognized the presence of excess phlegm and cough—which are the classic symptoms of bronchitis—for centuries. Early healers administered…

Pancreatitis was first identified as a disease in 1889 by Reginald Fitz. Up until that time, the organ was poorly understood. The first description of it came from Herophilus, a Greek…

The first documented mention of diabetes dates back to 1500 B.C., appearing in Egyptian manuscripts as a disease with “too great emptying of urine,” a key indicator of this condition.  It…

Crohn’s disease was named after the doctor who first described the disease in 1932, an American gastroenterologist named Dr. Burrill B. Crohn. His colleagues, Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr.…

129 to 99 B.C. A Greek physician by the name of Galen was the first person to use the word “psora,” to define a skin disorder with characteristics similar to modern-day psoriasis. 1300s…

The latter part of the nineteenth century saw great achievements in endocrinology, or the study of the endocrine system. During this time, experts no longer considered the thyroid gland—part…

The term fibromyalgia wasn’t coined until 1976. The condition was first named in 1904 by a British neurologist called Sir William Gowers, who coined the term “fibrositis”…

The history of gastritis begins with the discovery of curved bacteria, now called H. pylori, by Dr. A. Stone Freedberg in the 1940s. Discouraged by the science community and dissuaded by work…

Humans have suffered appendicitis since the earliest days of recorded history. Who First Recorded this Condition? Aretaeus the Cappadocian may have been the first to record appendicitis in 30…

Who Discovered Hypertension? English physician William Harvey was the first scientist to describe the concept of circulation in his book De monu cordis, published in 1628. It was Stephen Hales…