Sunday, March 15 -- Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County Historical Society Program Focuses on
History of Early Medicine in New Jersey with Dr. Gary Grover
FLEMINGTON -- Cayenne pepper enemas to treat lung diseases? Swallowing ground glass to treat gastro-intestinal disorders? Chewing tree bark to shake the shivers? Each of these treatments was considered legitimate at the time, but did any of them work?
Dr. Gary Grover knows the answers and will share with you the results of years of research into early medical treatments and drug discoveries in New Jersey. The talk will be presented during the Hunterdon County Historical Society’s spring meeting on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at the Flemington Presbyterian Church, 10 East Main Street. The meeting is free, and everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.
A cardiovascular pharmacologist, Dr. Grover is a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and a professor of cell biology at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, N.J.
“My desire to develop talks on drug history was due to a lack of any course in all of Rutgers outside of the pharmacy school,” Dr. Grover said. “I would sometimes take on undergrad premed students, and I would regale them with various drug stories. The students were so enthused that I decided to put together a talk for the Rutgers honors college.”
Those talks attracted so much interest that Dr. Grover soon began presenting these talks throughout the state.
Dr. Grover will discuss an array of topics, including how lung problems such as the flu were treated with cayenne pepper enemas, and will bring old medicine bottles and apothecary cups from his collection to the lecture.
He has worked in research at Bristol-Myers Squibb, as a professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and as a director of pharmacology for Eurofins Product Safety Labs, specializing in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, aging and cancer.
Dr. Grover earned his PhD degree in physiology from Albany (NY) Medical College. During his three years as a post-doctoral fellow, he studied the pharmacology and physiology of myocardial ischemia and coronary circulation, and also taught at Rutgers Medical School. His BS and MS degrees are from Rutgers University College of Agriculture and Environmental Science in New Brunswick.
