John Ha is a third-year History and Computational Biology major from Irvine, California. His thesis examines the relationship between quack medicine and anti–intellectual sentiment in America at the turn of the 20th century. Specifically, he wishes to understand the framework, practices, and ideological contexts that made “WM. Radam’s Microbe Killer”, a nearly useless nostrum that claimed to cure all diseases, so successful for nearly five decades. John’s research seeks to understand the desirability of false medicine and pseudoscience; to examine the historical ways that medicine has failed us; and to use this case study to shed light upon frameworks that might even be used today to identify false medical “messiahs”. He also works avidly on biochemical research at a microbiology lab and enjoys long-distance running. In the future, John hopes to pursue an MD and work as a medical policymaker.
