A program and book signing with Dr. Taylor Prewitt, “Before It Got Complicated”, a history of medicine in Fort Smith and the River Valley from 1817-1975.
When: Thursday March 21, 2024 @ 5:30 pm
Where: Fort Smith Museum of History
a: 320 Rogers Avenue
p: 479-783-7841
e: [email protected]
Tickets are available for purchase at: fortsmithmuseum.org
FSMH Members w/ ID are FREE.
“Before It Got Complicated” will be available for purchase.
Dr. Taylor Prewitt, a retired cardiologist, has published papers on the history of medicine in the Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society and The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society for the past ten years. These papers form the nucleus of Before It Got Complicated: Medicine in Fort Smith and the Arkansas River Valley 1817-1975. He received the Walter L. Brown Award for Best Biography, Autobiography, or Memoir in a county or local journal in 2018 for “He Knew Who He Was:’ Reflections on the Life of Harry P. McDonald.”
Prewitt grew up in McGehee, Arkansas; majored in English at the University of Arkansas; graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; and trained in cardiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He practiced at Cooper Clinic in Fort Smith from 1969 to 2003. Dr. Prewitt also served as a senior fellow in cardiology at the Brompton Hospital in London in 1974. Among other professional recognition, he is a Master of the American College of Physicians.
In recent years he served as chair of the board of what was then St. Edward Mercy Medical Center and also as president of the board of directors of Methodist Village Senior Living.
Other books include Reciting Robert Frost in the ICU: Essays on the Literature of Medicine and most recently, a collection of personal essays and book reviews, Notes in the Margin: Reflections on a Few Books in 2022. He also spoke to the Trollope Society in New York about his book The Way They Lived Then: Serious Interviews, Strong Women, and Lessons for Life in the Novels of Anthony Trollope. He and his wife Mary live in Fort Smith. They have three children and seven grandchildren. Other interests include swimming, tennis, and photography.