Introducing the Dissertation Titles and Synopses Section

摘要

Doctoral dissertations are the culmination of several years' worth of in-depth primary research work. Many new PhDs endeavor to publish small sections or more concise versions of their dissertation as journal articles, and others manage to publish book-length versions of their research, though seldom with accompanying bibliographies. Regrettably, most dissertations rarely attract wide attention in their original form and are relegated to an existence on library shelves. In an effort to address this neglect, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine will occasionally publish a listing of recent dissertation titles (with abridged forms of their full abstracts) that are of potential interest to members of the Wilderness Medical Society and readers of this journal. Many thanks are extended to Jonathon Erlen, PhD, medical historian from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, for providing a monthly stream of newly minted dissertations from which to choose. While Dr Erlen's assiduous efforts have provided a great deal of worthy material, space considerations dictate that only a small number of these titles can be included here. I have endeavored to choose titles that might be of greatest interest to as broad a cross-section of readers of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine as possible. To the author of any recent dissertation that may well belong in this list but has not been included, please accept my sincere apologies. Those wishing a more complete listing of international health care dissertations should check Dr Erlen's URL that he updates monthly at: www.hsls.pitt.edu/services/histmed/dissertations.html.