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Local Medical Student Interviewed As Part Of PBS's "Secrets Of The Dead"

pbs.org

A medical student at the University of Rochester is among those interviewed in an episode of the PBS series 'Secrets of the Dead' which will be seen Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Melissa Hewson is on the segment called "Ben Franklin's Bones” because one of her ancestors is an 18th century physician.

William Hewson did groundbreaking work involving the human lymphatic system. In the late 1990s, some bones were found in the basement of a London home where Benjamin Franklin had lived, but it's believed they were likely left there by Hewson, as part of his medical research.

Melissa Hewson says that PBS reached out to her not only because of the family connection, but she had also been doing research on the topic.

“I think I grew up hearing stories of William Hewson and of other Hewsons in medicine and I think that inspires definitely a curiosity and a fascination with the art and the science of medicine.”

Hewson says that 18th century doctor is not the only family relation she has in the medical field.

“There’s a very strong lineage, so after William Hewson there were five more generations of Hewson physicians and then I’m currently going into it today so I’ll be the seventh generation Hewson physician.

Hewson says her ancestor also did a lot of research on hematology  based on his work in blood clotting. He was also  the first person to identify fibrinogen which is a protein in the blood. 

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.