You are invited to the Medical History Interest Group's presentation of Sheena M. Eagan and David M. Durant's "Beyond Unit 731: Japanese Medical Atrocities in the Greater Pacific War, 1931-45: Context and Implications" on November 3rd, 2025.

You may also attend the event virtually at this link. Please be aware that while streaming is available to all, only those with an ECU email address are able to access the live Q&A via Panopto. However, I will be taking questions from this email (frazierm24@ecu.edu) during the live session.

Presentation Description: Much is known about the horrific medical experiments conducted by Nazi physicians and researchers at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Less well known are the numerous horrific atrocities performed by Japanese medical personnel during the Second World War. Unit 731, a biological warfare research complex, performed hideous medical experiments that claimed thousands of lives. Its work culminated in a number of biological warfare attacks as part of Japan’s war in China.

Unfortunately, such horrific acts went well beyond Unit 731, involving both the Japanese Army and Navy Medical Corps, and the civilian Japanese medical establishment. This included regular involvement of medical personnel in war crimes, killing of non-ambulatory wounded, and the widespread practice of vivisection as a tool of both medical research and education.  This presentation will explore the history of these crimes, their context, and the broader conditions that made them possible.

About the Speaker: 

Sheena M. Eagan, MPH, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, where she also directs the Medical Humanities & Ethics Distinction Track. Her research explores the intersections of bioethics, medical humanities, and the history of medicine, with particular attention to ethical challenges in times of war, disaster, and public health crisis. She has published and presented widely on military medical ethics, social determinants of health, and the historical legacies of medicine under conditions of social and political upheaval.

David M. Durant is Professor/Federal Documents & Social Sciences Librarian at East Carolina University, in Greenville, NC. He holds a Master of Science in Library & Information Services from the University of Michigan, and an MA in Russian and Soviet History from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include the use of disinformation and propaganda, reading in the digital age, and 20^th Century history.

This presentation is part of the Ruth and John Moskop History of Medicine Lecture Series.

Individuals requesting accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should contact the ADA Coordinator at least 48 hours prior to the event at (252) 737-1018 (voice/TTY) / ada-coordinator@ecu.edu