Past, Present, and Future

Established in 2012, the Johns Hopkins Legacy Society honors more than 2,100 donors who are helping to secure the future of Johns Hopkins University and Medicine with a gift through their estate plan or a life income gift. Members receive special recognition and opportunities to connect with each other and Johns Hopkins, including at the annual Legacy Society Luncheon.

This year’s event, the eighth since the tradition began in 2016, was described by Anne Doyle, executive director of the Office of Gift Planning and the event’s emcee, in her opening remarks as “a celebration of your generosity, vision, and the enduring impact of legacy giving.” And what a celebration it was!

Held on a beautiful, sunny day in September at Citron on the Quarry Lake waterfront in Baltimore, the gathering was attended by nearly 100 Legacy Society members and featured keynote speaker Jeremy Greene, MD, PhD, director of the Department of the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Despite being “a historian who claims not to be a futurologist,” Greene offered a fascinating presentation that explored the ways in which medicine’s past can offer insights that shape our understanding of its present and future. He passed around a digital thermometer, a Nash Logoscope, and other artifacts that prove the history of medicine does not merely exist in the archives of famous people, but can be found in ordinary objects as well.

Throughout his presentation, Greene encouraged the audience to reflect on the futures predicted throughout history and how they compare to what actually came to be. He also emphasized that past innovations lost to time or taken for granted are a resource that can be recovered if we take time to examine the everyday.

Greene noted that, as both a historian and a practicing internist, his combination of perspectives is a unique product of the Johns Hopkins ecosystem.

“I’m grateful to Hopkins for this,” he said. “I’m grateful to all of you for celebrating what Hopkins is.”

View the photo gallery below for a closer look at the Eighth Annual Johns Hopkins Legacy Society Luncheon.