TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Ronald L. Numbers, a professor in the history of science and medicine, will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum Oct. 31-Nov. 1 on The University of Alabama campus.

Numbers will present his lecture “The American Medical Monopoly: Myth or Reality?” Friday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. in Room 205 Smith Hall on the UA campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Numbers is the Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine and serves as chair of the department of history of medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he has taught for more than 25 years. He served as editor of Isis, the flagship journal of the history of science, for five years. He has authored or edited more than two dozen books including, most recently, “The Creationists,” “Darwinism Comes to America,” and “Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender,” co-edited with John Stenhouse.

Numbers is currently writing a history of science in America; editing a series of monographs on the history of medicine, science and religion for the Johns Hopkins University Press; and co-editing, with David Lindberg, the eight-volume “Cambridge History of Science.”

Numbers is the immediate past president of the American Society of Church History and the current president of the History of Science in Society. A former Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, Numbers is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the International Academy of the History of Science.

The McCollough Medical Scholars Forum, sponsored by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, was established by Alabama physician and University of Alabama alumnus Gaylon McCollough and his wife, Susan. Its purpose is to give students an understanding of the importance of both the scientific and humanistic aspects of healthcare. Twenty high school students and 40 University of Alabama pre-health professions students were selected based on application to participate in the forum which will also include healthcare professionals and UA faculty from a broad range of disciplines.

The College of Arts and Sciences is Alabama’s largest liberal arts college and the University’s largest division with 355 faculty and 6,600 students.