Medical miracles that changed how we treat disease

In 1776, practitioners commonly treated fevers, infections and inflammation with “heroic medicine.” This was a practice in which doctors used extreme measures such as draining large amounts of blood (bloodletting) or inducing vomiting in an attempt to shock the patient’s body back to health.

In fact, bloodletting may have contributed to George Washingto’s death in 1799. Today, the life expectancy has more than doubled, from 35 to 79 years, and Washington would likely be treated with antibiotics, rather than bloodletting, for the throat infection that precipitated his death. Here are some other significant medical advances of the past 250 years.

mRNA innovations

A precursor to vaccines was used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War to protect soldiers from smallpox, though it was very dangerous. And in 1796, Edward Jenner used cowpox as the first documented vaccination, but in 1776, none existed. Today, revolutionary ribonucleic acid (RNA) technology or mRNA vaccines, developed by Penn Medicine Nobel laureates, are being tested for influenza (flu), cancer, tuberculosis and malaria. The Covid vaccines also use mRNA technology. The institution says mRNA vaccines use a genetic code that instructs our cells to produce their own proteins, which “train the immune system.” These mRNA vaccines may be developed more quickly and cost less than traditional vaccines.

CAR T-cell therapy

Scientists have developed a technique to make CAR T-cell therapy — an advanced cancer treatment used for some blood cancers — safer and more effective for solid tumors. CAR stands for chimeric antigen receptor. These add a second receptor type to immune cells, helping immune cells engineered to hunt and kill cancer better distinguish between cancer and healthy tissue. These engineered cells can then attack tumors more effectively and reduce the harmful side effects of traditional cancer treatments. This dual-receptor approach appears to destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone, and that’s exciting news for future cancer treatment outcomes.

Regenerative medicine and 3D bioprinting

If you can dream it, maybe you can print it. Meet 3D bioprinting that can fabricate skin and tissues by using bioink, the technology’s core material. It contains living human cells and scaffolds that create structure by providing a supportive framework, or skeleton, for living cells. Consider 3D bioprinting’s use in regenerative medicine, which is the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function. Over the next 5 to 20 years, this technology may even help ease organ donor shortages.

GLP-1 medications

These drugs were invented to treat obesity-related diseases, specifically Type 2 diabetes. Weight loss is a well-known potential side effect that has garnered consumer interest. More than 30 million U.S. adults are estimated to have used a GLP-1 in 2025. These are glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists that imitate a natural hormone in the gut. The medications were initially marketed as injections, but on April 1, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration approved the second new oral medication, Foundayo, from Eli Lilly. In October 2025, Gallup said that after a record high of 39.9% in 2022, the U.S. adult obesity rate had declined to 37.0% in 2025. That translates to 7.6 million fewer obese adults. Expect stronger formulations and implants that can last for months. Scientists are exploring applications far beyond weight loss: heart failure, chronic liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea and substance abuse.

AI scribes

As AI transforms life in 2026, it also impacts health care.

While caution is required as adoption outpaces oversight, AI scribes are often considered a boon to the health industry. “All these trends are exciting, but no medical breakthrough or technological innovation can live up to the expectations about what AI scribes can bring into medicine and health care,” says Bertalan Meskó, known as The Medical Futurist. “This could be the biggest milestone in medicine in the last few decades,” Dr. Meskó says.

More work on the horizon

We still have work to do. “The United States has been a leader in the development of medical technologies but does poorly on access to health care,” says Mary Fissell, the Inaugural J. Mario Molina Professor of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University.

The latest National Health Care Expenditure statistics for 2024 show that expenses grew 7.2% to $5.3 trillion, or $15,474 per person. Indeed, research from the Kaiser Family Foundation published in early 2026 finds that “just under half of U.S. adults say it is difficult to afford health care costs,” and “the cost of health care can lead some to put off needed care.”

Our ancestors in 1776 couldn’t have imagined the advances we know in 2026. Only time will tell us what awaits human health care in 2276.