Two Hearts: Dissection & Desire

Join the Pathology Museum at QMUL on Valentine's evening for this intriguing journey into the heart. In this special event, "Dissection and Desire", we will look at two different perceived versions of the heart: the physical and the emotional.

To begin the evening, Dr Paula Vickerton (Anatomist at QMUL's Turnbull Centre Dissection Room) will create a prosection of a pig's heart in the same fashion medical students would do so to learn about the anatomy of the human heart. She will use a visualiser projecting onto a large screen, allowing the audience to see the step-by-step dissection and talking through each incredible feature of the organ which works so hard to sustain us.

A little larger than a clenched fist, the heart sits within your chest, a four chambered pump. A look inside the heart reveals that each chamber has features intrinsically linked to its development or function. A small change in these features can have catastrophic effects upon the heart and therefore the entire body, with coronary heart disease being the leading cause of death both in the UK and worldwide. In order to demonstrate these features Paula will dissect a pig’s heart and discuss the clinical relevance of each structure.  

Juxtaposing this journey into the physical will be a talk from Historian Dr Sally Holloway, based at QMUL's Centre for the History of Emotions. This richly illustrated lecture will explore the fascinating history of the heart as the seat of the emotions, bringing together a wide range of sources from love letters to paintings and Valentine’s gifts. The heart was the very essence of divine love in the Bible, and could be pierced, softened, plagued or broken by the rituals of romantic love. The lecture will chart the changing meanings of the heart as an incredibly adaptable symbol of romantic, maternal and religious love across European history.
Bios:

Dr Paula Vickerton first studied Anatomy at the University of Liverpool, before completing a PhD within Musculoskeletal biology. Following this she taught Anatomy at Keele Medical School and in June moved to QMUL. Dr Vickerton is now involved in all aspects of anatomical teaching for medical students at Bart’s and the London.  

Dr Sally Holloway specialises in the history of love and heartbreak in eighteenth-century England. She teaches at Oxford Brookes University and Richmond, The American International University in London. Sally is an Affiliated Research Scholar at Queen Mary’s Centre for the History of the Emotions, and was recently an Early Career International Research Fellow at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.

Wine and heart-shaped chocolates as well as other nibbles are included in the ticket price for this unique event to engage the public with two different aspects of teaching at Queen Mary university London, and the pathology collection contained within the museum.