A unique resource for the general public and students interested in immigration and public health, this book presents a comprehensive history of public health and draws 10 key lessons for current immigration and health policymakers. The period of 1820 to 1920 was one of mass migration to the United States from other nations of origin. This century-long period served to develop modern medicine with the acceptance of the germ theory of disease and the lessons learned from how immigration officials and doctors of the United States Marine Hospital Service (USMHS) confronted six major pandemic diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, influenza, smallpox, trachoma, and yellow fever. This book provides a narrative history that relates how immigration doctors of the USMHS developed devices and procedures that greatly influenced the development of public health. It illuminates the distinct links between immigration policy and public health policy and distinguishes ten key lessons learned nearly 100 years ago that are still relevant to coping with current public health policy issues. By re-examining the experiences of doctors at three U.S. immigration/quarantine stations—Angel Island, Ellis Island, and New Orleans—in the early 19th century through the early 20th century, Doctors at the Borders: Immigration and the Rise of Public Health analyzes the successes and failures of these medical practitioners' pioneering efforts to battle pandemic diseases and identifies how the hard-won knowledge from that relatively primitive period still informs how public health policy should be written today. Readers will understand how the USMHS doctors helped shape the very development of U.S. public health and modern scientific medicine, and see the need for international cooperation in the face of today's global threats of pandemic diseases.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Age of Mass Migration, 1820–1920 The Old Immigrant Wave, 1820–1880 The New Immigrant Wave, 1880–1920 Reaction to Change—the Nativist Movement and Growing Restrictionism Public Policy Reactions to Mass Migration Conclusion: Closing the Golden Door 2. The Period of Pandemics Notable Epidemic/Pandemic Diseases and North American Immigration Germ Theory and Medical Science Developments to Cope with Pandemics Conclusion 3. The Angel Island Quarantine/Immigration Station, 1891–1946 A Brief History of the Angel Island Quarantine/Immigration Station The Immigration Station Coping with Epidemics and Pandemics Spreading Innovations Conclusion 4. The Ellis Island Station A Brief History of Ellis Island Quarantine Station Coping with Epidemics Spreading Innovations Conclusion 5. The New Orleans Station A Brief History of the City and Immigration to and through New Orleans The New Orleans Station Coping with Epidemics and Pandemics at New Orleans Spreading Innovations Conclusion 6. Ten Lessons Learned Lesson 1: A Question of When, Not If Lesson 2: Political Exigencies Tend to Trump Medical Advice Lesson 3: Preventive Medicine Is Best Lesson 4: Mission Complexity Hampers Effective Response Lesson 5: As Man Adapts to Nature, Nature Adapts to Man Lesson 6: We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us Lesson 7: The Special Threat of Bioterrorism Lesson 8: The Importance of an Early Warning System Lesson 9: The Necessity for International Cooperation to Face a Global Threat Lesson 10: Plan to Succeed, or Plan on Failing Conclusion Glossary Notes Bibliography Index