Medical-Spirituality Conference

Suicide; Connection | Healing | Hope

Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. | Sinclair Conference Center | 301 W. Fourth St., Dayton, OH 45402

Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States with nearly 50,000 lives lost annually. Rates have increased over 30 percent in the last 20 years, including children, military, minorities, seniors, members of the LGBTQA community. Join us at the 13th annual Wright State University Medical-Spirituality Conference as we explore the scope of the problem and consider the power of connection, healing, and hope. We are pleased to have two keynote speakers: Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Dr. Michael Weinstein, trauma surgeon and author of the essay Out of the Straitjacket, who will talk about suicide in the African American community.  

Our goal for the conference is to bring light to the subject of suicide and, through connection, provide healing and hope.

There will be afternoon breakout sessions.

Keynote Speakers and Presenters

Michael Weinstein, M.D.
Trauma surgeon and author of the essay Out of the Straitjacket

Christine Moutier, M.D.,
Chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Christine Moutier, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Michael Weinstein, M.D.
Trauma Surgeon, Author of the essay Out of the Straitjacket

Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Participants will choose two:

• Postvention - Dr.  Christine Moutier
• Mindfulness & Resiliency - Dr. Michael Weinstein
• Suicide Among LGBTQ+ Youth - Josh Egeland from Daybreak
• Grief and Suicide - Lisa Conn from Ohio's Hospice
• Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders - Birdie Meyer

Conference Fee

Physicians: $150
Nurses and other health professionals: $75 
General: $75 
Seniors: $65
Students: $35 
Residents: $35 
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free

For groups wishing to attend, or those needing financial assistance, please contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Continuing Medical Education

Information is forthcoming.

Conference Sponsors

For More Information

For more information about the Medical-Spirituality Conference, contact: Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

2021 Virtual Medical-Spirituality Conference

Living with Losses: Transformation and Growth within the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thursday, April 15, 2021 | 7:45 a.m. - noon

A Zoom link was sent to all registered participants on Monday, April 12. If you did not receive it, please email nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Healthcare professionals are on the frontlines facing the coronavirus pandemic, political tensions and racial injustice. Most of us are feeling vulnerable and uncertain about the future, coupled with a deep sense of individual and collective loss in our professional and personal lives. Yet, in our roles as health professionals, team members, and leaders within health care organizations, it is possible to help ourselves and others face these challenges feeling robust, connected and effective.

This will be a participatory, interactive, and experiential workshop, in which Drs. Ronald Epstein and Michael Krasner will explore common reactions to these extraordinary stressors. They will show how developing habits of attentiveness and curiosity when experiencing threat and loss can help participants become more connected to patients and colleagues, more compassionate toward themselves and others, and more effective as clinicians and leaders. Participants will learn simple practices that can be used during the workday to promote presence, curiosity, and attentiveness, to help them to thrive amid chaos, fear, uncertainty, and loss.

Finally, Drs. Epstein and Krasner will discuss evidence-based best practices, based on their Mindful Practice programs, to enhance well-being, effectiveness, job engagement and teamwork in health care settings.

Michael Krasner, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Ronald Epstein, M.D.
Family physician, palliative care physician, writer, researcher and teacher of communication and mindful practice in medicine. 

Presenters:

Ronald Epstein, M.D., family physician, palliative care physician, writer, researcher and teacher of communication and mindful practice in medicine. 

Michael Krasner, M.D., is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Schedule

Welcome: 7:45-8:00 a.m. 

Session 1, 8:00-9:45: The Power of Presence Amidst Chaos and Challenges 

Session 2, 10:15-12:00: Flourishing in Medicine: Building Inner Resources 

Conference Fee

General: $25
Physicians: $50
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free
Wright State University Medical Students: Free
Nursing Students: Free

For groups wishing to attend, or those needing financial assistance, please contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Continuing Medical Education

Physicians and Nurses
Wright State University designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians and nurses should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

Counselors and Social Workers
Social Worker and Counselor Continuing Education in the process of being approved.

• Evaluation for CME

• Evaluation for Counselors and Social Workers

Virtual platform:

Zoom (link will be sent to all participants the week of the conference) 

Register

Limit – 175 participants. 

Conference Sponsors

For More Information

For more information about the Medical-Spirituality Conference, contact: Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

As the outbreak of COVID-19 has been developing worldwide, we have been monitoring recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). After carefully weighing the facts as well as our duties to alumni and friends of the medical school, the Boonshoft School of Medicine has made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel the 2020 Medical-Spiritualty Conference scheduled for April 16.

All paid participants and exhibitors will be issued a full refund. We apologize for any inconvenience as we take these measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Suicide; Connection | Healing | Hope

Thursday, April 16, 2020 | 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. | Sinclair Conference Center | 301 W. Fourth St., Dayton, OH 45402

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with nearly 50,000 lives lost annually. Rates have increased over 30% in the last 20 years, affecting all walks of life including children, military, minorities, seniors and LGBTQ. Join us at the 12th annual Wright State University Medical-Spirituality Conference as we explore the scope of the problem and consider the power of connection, healing and hope. We are pleased to have three keynote speakers: Dr. Christine Moutier, who is chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) as well as Dr. Michael Weinstein,  a trauma surgeon, who will share his personal story.  Victor Armstrong, a social worker, will talk about suicide in the African American community.  

Our goal for the conference is to bring light to the subject of suicide and, through connection, provide healing and hope. There will be afternoon breakout sessions such as  Soul Shop, which will focus on suicide in the faith community and sessions about postvention and suicide in both the adolescent and LGBTQ communities.

Victor Armstrong, M.S.W.
Vice President for Behavioral Health, Atrium Health

Michael Weinstein, M.D.
Trauma surgeon and author of the essay Out of the Straitjacket

Christine Moutier, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Keynote Speakers and Presenters

Christine Moutier, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Foundation for  Suicide Prevention

Michael Weinstein, M.D., trauma surgeon and author of the essay "Out of the Straitjacket"

Victor Armstrong, M.S.W., vice president for behavioral health, Atrium Health

Breakout Session Presenters

Kelly Blankenship, D.O., chief of psychiatry, Dayton Children’s Hospital - Suicide Prevention Among Children and Teens

Bill Hesse, Ohio area director, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Suicide and LGBTQ Populations

Christine Moutier, M.D. and Victor Armstrong, M.S.W. - Postvention

Michelle Snyder, MSW, director - Soul Shop

Michael Weinstein, M.D. - Mindfulness for Health care Professionals: Why We Should Pay Attention

Conference Fee

Physicians: $150 ($175 after March 16)
Nursing and other health professions: $75 ($85 after March 16)
General: $75 ($85 after March 16)
Seniors: $65 ($75 after March 16)
Students: $35 ($40 after March 16)
Residents: $35 ($40 after March 16)
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free

For groups wishing to attend, or those needing financial assistance, please contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Continuing Medical Education

Physicians

Wright State University (WSU) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. WSU designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Counselors and Social Workers

This program has been awarded 6.0 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours by Premier Health, Dayton, Ohio, an approved provider of Counselor and Social Worker CPEs (#RCS080202) by the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board.

Nursing

Contact Hours: 6.0 - Premier Health is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the Ohio Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91)

Conference Sponsors

For More Information

For more information about the Medical-Spirituality Conference, contact: Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Addiction | Healing | Hope
Integrating Science and Spirituality to Support Recovery

Thursday, April 11, 2019 | 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Sinclair Conference Center | 301 W. Fourth St., Dayton, OH 45402

On a daily basis, the medical field sees the devastating effects of the opioid crisis. This national epidemic has been felt particularly close to home, as our communities have been greatly affected by its negative impacts.

The crisis has exposed the shortcomings of our medical system in helping those with addiction, a chronic brain disease leading to biological, psychological, social, and spiritual dysfunction. Thankfully, evidence-based and integrated approaches are available that can help patients who suffer from this life-threatening disease.

The eleventh Medical-Spirituality Conference is an invitation to explore the challenges and opportunities with experts from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a national leader in addiction treatment and recovery. Please join us to learn ways that you can offer healing and hope to those who suffer from addiction.

Online registration is now closed. Anyone wishing to register for the conference can do so at the event. Registration opens at 8 a.m.

Keynote Presenters

Dr. Marvin Seppala and Dr. Stephen Delisi will present on the epidemiology and neurobiology of addiction, as well as the role of spirituality in treatment and recovery. Joyce Starr and Dr. Michael Tkach will discuss recovery management applications and how spiritual engagement can support long-term recovery.

Marvin Seppala, M.D.

Michael Tkach, Psy.D.

Stephen Delisi, M.D.

Conference Schedule

8:45 a.m.: Opening Remarks
9:00: Keynote: Marvin Seppala, M.D. - Blending Science and Spirituality in a Recovery-Oriented System of Care
10:15: Break
10:30: Stephen Delisi, M.D. - Part 1: What is addiction - Chronic Brain Disease
Noon: Lunch
1:00 p.m.: Stephen Delisi, M.D. - Part 2: Blending science and spirituality in your practice
2:00: Break
2:15: Joyce Starr, LICDC, ICADC, and Michael Tkach, Psy.D. - The science and spirituality of recovery management
3:15: Panel Discussion
4:15: Closing Remarks and wrap-up
4:30: Conference concludes

Conference Fee

Physicians: $150 ($175 after March 11)
Nursing and other health professions: $75 ($85 after March 11)
General: $75 ($85 after March 11)
Seniors: $65 ($75 after March 11)
Students: $35 ($40 after March 11)
Residents: $35 ($40 after March 11)
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free

For groups wishing to attend, or those needing financial assistance, please contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Continuing Medical Education

Physicians

WSU designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 6.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing

Contact Hours: 6.0 - Premier Health is approved as a provider of continuing nursing education by the Ohio Nurses Association an accredited approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91).

Social Workers, Counselors

This program has been awarded 6.0 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours by Samaritan Behavioral Health, Inc,, Dayton, Ohio, an approved provider of Counselor and Social Worker CPE’s (#RCS100303) by the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapy Board.

Conference Sponsors

For More Information

For more information, contact: Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

Online registration is now closed. If you would like to attend, we will register you at the event on Thursday. For more information, please contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu.

The Soul Work of Living and Dying

Thursday, April 19, 2018 | 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. | Sinclair Conference Center | 301 W. Fourth St., Dayton, OH 45402

While modern medicine and contemporary technologies have extended our lives, we still struggle with the question of living well. For physicians and patients grappling with questions of what it means to live fully in the midst of chronic or life-threatening illness, the quest for answers is worthwhile, challenging and deeply personal.

This year’s tenth anniversary Medical-Spirituality Conference is an invitation to explore these issues with acclaimed authors and speakers, Lucy Kalanithi, M.D., and Steven Z. Pantilat, M.D. Both encourage us to contemplate suffering and life’s meaning in the face of difficult diagnosis with awe, purpose and humility.

Please join us for a special tenth anniversary Medical-Spirituality Conference in which speakers will offer their perspectives and conference participants will engage in thoughtful conversation while exploring questions surrounding important life issues.

Keynote Presenters

Lucy Kalanithi, M.D., wife of neurosurgeon and author Paul Kalanithi, M.D., shares her perspective about his writings and experience through a diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer. She was the steward of his manuscript and book, When Breath Becomes Air, published after his death. As a partner to his process, she offers unique insight into sharing his battle with cancer and the troubling questions of life, death and purpose.

Steven Z. Pantilat, M.D., is a renowned international expert in palliative care and author of Life After the Diagnosis: Expert Advice on Living Well with Serious Illness for Patients and Caregivers. His work offers both compassionate support and practical advice for negotiating the tumultuous terrain of living with chronic and life-threatening illness.

Conference Schedule

8:45 a.m.: Opening
9-10:00: Keynote by Dr. Steve Pantilat, M.D.
10-11:00: Table Discussions
11-11:15: Break
11:15-noon: Q&A with Dr. Steve Pantilat, M.D.
Noon-1: Lunch
1-2: Interview with Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, M.D.
2-3: Table Discussions
3-3:15: Break
3:14-3:45: Q&A with Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, M.D.
3:45-4:30: Panel Discussion & Closing
4:30-5:15: Book Signing

Conference Fee

Physicians: $150 ($175 after March 19)
Nursing and other health professions: $75 ($85 after March 19)
General: $75 ($85 after March 19)
Seniors: $65 ($75 after March 19)
Students: $35 ($40 after March 19)
Residents: $35 ($40 after March 19)
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free

Continuing Education

Physicians
Wright State University (WSU) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. WSU designated this live activity for a maximum of 6.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Counselors and Social Workers
This program has been awarded 6.0 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours by Samaritan Behavioral Health, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, an approved provider of Counselor and Social Worker CPEs (#RCS100303) by the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapy Board.

Nursing
CONTACT HOURS: 6.25
Premier Health is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Ohio Nurses Association an accredited approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91) (OH-015, 4/1/2020)

Conference Sponsors

For More Information

For more information, contact: Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu or 937.245.7634.

Pediatric Health and Healing: Exploring the Spiritual and Emotional Needs of Our Young Patients

Thursday, April 27, 2017 | 8:45 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. | Sinclair Conference Center | 301 W. Fourth St., Dayton OH 45402

Keynote Presenters

Rev. Cheryl V. Minor, Ph.D.

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl V. Minor is the director of the Center for the Theology of Childhood, the academic/publishing arm of the Godly Play Foundation. For the past 19 years, she has served a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, the Parish of All Saints’ Church in Belmont. Minor is also a Godly Play trainer and has been deeply involved in designing the Godly Play Foundation’s training models.

She has a degree in music education from Boston University, an M.Div. degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in psychology from Northcentral University in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her dissertation examined the impact of Godly Play on the spiritual well-being of children. Last summer she was in residence at Children’s Health – Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where Godly Play has been used as the chief pastoral intervention for the past 30 years.

Chaplain Ryan Campbell

Ryan Campbell is a Roman Catholic ecclesial lay minister. He received a Master of Theological Studies from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. He completed his clinical pastoral education training at Children’s Medical Center Dallas and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. He has been board-certified by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. He served for two years as a staff chaplain at UT Southwestern University Hospitals, St. Paul and Zale-Lipshy, and is currently on staff at Children’s Medical Center Dallas as program manager for the Center for the Spirituality of Children.

Campbell also ministers to patients, families and staff in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. He has completed a graduate certificate in the spiritual guidance of children at General Theological Seminary in New York, studying under the Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman. His interests in ministry include children’s spirituality, palliative care, grief and bereavement care.

Conference Schedule

8:45-9 a.m.: Welcome
9-10:15 a.m.: Rev. Dr. Cheryl Minor
10:15-10:45 a.m.: Break & Refreshments
10:45-noon: Chaplain Ryan Campbell
Noon-1 p.m.: Lunch
1-2 p.m.: Breakout Session 1
2-2:20 p.m.: Break/Switch Sessions
2:20-3:20 p.m.: Breakout Session 2
3:20-3:45 p.m.: Break & Refreshments
3:45-4:30 p.m.: Panel Discussion
4:30-4:45 p.m.: Closing & Evaluations

Conference Fee

Physicians: $150 ($175 after March 27)
Nursing and other health professions: $75 ($85 after March 27)
General: $75 ($85 after March 27)
Seniors: $65 ($75 after March 27)
Students: $35 ($40 after March 27)
Residents: $35 ($40 after March 27)
Boonshoft School of Medicine Students: Free 

Continuing Education

Physicians
Wright State University (WSU) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. WSU designated this live activity for a maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nurses
This activity has qualified for 5.5 Contact Hours through Premier Health. Premier Health is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Ohio Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91) (OH-015, 04/01/2017).

Counselors & Social Workers
This program has been awarded 5.5 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours by Samaritan Behavior Health, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, an approved provider of Counselor and Social Worker CPEs (#RCS100303) by the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapy Board.

Conference Sponsors

For more information

For more information, contact Nicki Crellin at nicki.crellin@wright.edu or (937) 245-7634.

April 14, 2016: The Heart Speaks: An Integrative Approach to Cardiovascular Health

Featured presenter: Mimi Guarneri, M.D., FACC, ABIHM

Dr. Mimi Guarneri is a much sought-after speaker who lectures internationally. Board-certified in cardiovascular disease, internal medicine, nuclear medicine and holistic medicine, Guarneri is president of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, senior advisor to the Atlantic Health System for the Center for Well Being and Integrative Medicine and past president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. She founded and directed Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine for 15 years. She founded and directs Guarneri Integrative Health Inc. at Pacific Pearl La Jolla. She earned her medical degree at SUNY Medical Center in New York, where she graduated number one in her class. Guarneri served her internship and residency at Cornell Medical Center and then completed cardiology fellowships at both New York University Medical Center and Scripps Clinic.

She is the author of The Heart Speaks (Simon & Schuster 2007), a poignant collection of stories from heart patients who have benefited from integrative medicine. The Heart Speaks and Guarneri’s clinical work were featured in a two-part PBS documentary, The New Medicine, on NBC’s Today Show, and on PBS’s To the Contrary and Full Focus. The Heart Speaks also was optioned for a scripted television series.

Guarneri also has authored many articles in professional journals such as the Journal of Echocardiography and the Annals of Internal Medicine, and she is regularly quoted in national publications such as the Yoga Journal, Body+Soul, Trustee magazine and WebMD.

Conference Sponsors

Rekindling the Flame: Bringing the Persective of your Heart Into Your Service Work

A two-day, 12-hour workshop in personal and professional resilience with Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

April 15 & 16, 2016 | Hilton Garden Inn at Austin Landing, 12000 Innovation Drive, Miamisburg, Ohio 45432

This workshop was for health professionals interested in exploring and strengthening the personal meaning of their work, implementing innovative strategies of professional self-care, reinvigorating their service intention and learning how to create an ongoing community approach to the exploration and deepening of the experience of meaning in their professional lives.

The fast growing epidemic of compassion fatigue among health professionals has stimulated the search for etiology and the development of new approaches of prevention and recovery. Recent research suggests that the capacity to find personal meaning in your work is highly correlated with professional and personal resiliency and the experience of deep satisfaction in service work.

Using reflection, poetry, symbolism, narrative, art, journaling, generous listening and small group sharing, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., will enable workshop participants to revisit their original calling, discover the personal meaning hidden in their daily routine and reclaim their passion for their profession. Come prepared to remember why you chose your work and recover the deep satisfaction of being a health professional.

Rekindling the Flame Sponsors

The Healing Power of Stories

Thursday, April 16, 2015 | Sinclair Conference Center, 444 W. Third St., Dayton OH 45402

Humans are innate storytellers. We share our stories as a means of making sense of others and ourselves. Yet more than the telling of tales, narratives are profoundly steeped in personal, cultural and institutional values and beliefs. The narratives we share speak to our lived and living experience across these various terrains. In the clinic, narratives are increasingly revered for their role as therapeutic devices; stories speak to illness in ways that move us beyond the physical mechanics of understanding bodies, illness and care. Understanding the role of stories in health and healing is a critical component of enhancing patient-centered care and reducing physician burnout. It is in learning how to listen through the stories we both tell and interpret that physicians and patients alike can find a means of navigating the complex challenges in our contemporary health care systems.

Increasingly, medical professionals have been called to practice more efficient, effective care in less time, often leaving both physicians and patients depleted and unsatisfied. Narrative medicine involves the practice of attending to stories of illness in ways that engage practitioners and patients in compassionate, therapeutic care. The process is grounded in deep listening and reflection. Stories that emerge in the midst of illness and associated chaos provide extraordinary opportunities for us all to communicate in ways that promote more open, honest communication and trust. In learning to listen with intention and reflect with purpose, patient narratives can expand an ability to understand illness, others, and ourselves in ways that advance our ability to care for each other.

In this conference we will address the role of narrative in developing skills to assist providers in moving from an emphasis on detached concern to one of engaged concern and care. Engaged concern makes way for patients and providers to advance relationships that promote deeper empathy as well as greater personal and professional reflection and increased ethic of care. Workshops based on narrative theories assist participants in developing skills that will enhance resiliency, reduce practitioner burn out and strengthen communication between physicians and patients.

Featured Presenter: Lynn M. Harter, Ph.D.

Lynn M. Harter, Ph.D., is Barbara Geralds Schoonover Professor of Health Communication in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. Guided by narrative and feminist sensibilities, her scholarly agenda focuses on the communicative construction of possibility as individuals and groups organize for survival and social change amidst embodied differences.

Her research encompasses a range of issues, including pediatric cancer care, disability-related concerns, the organizing of health care for underserved populations, poverty and homelessness. The various strands of her program of research are connected by a primary concern: how symbolic, material and corporeal resources foster resiliency among individuals facing vulnerable and difficult life circumstances.

She coproduced the award-winning PBS documentary “The Art of the Possible,” which chronicles the journeys of five families living with a member’s cancer, its treatment and what remains in the aftermath. She is author of Imagining New Normals: A Narrative Framework for Health Communication, has published more than 75 journal articles and book chapters and edited three award-winning scholarly books. She lives in Athens, Ohio, with her husband, Scott, daughter, Emma Grace, and basset hounds, Ned and Cleo.

2015 Physician Retreat: Caring for the Soul of Medicine

Narrative Medicine

Friday, April 17, 2015 | Harmony Farms | 5578 S. State Route 202 | Tipp City, OH 45371

Featured presenter: Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D.

Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the Program in Narrative Medicine and professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, originated the field of narrative medicine and, with colleagues from Columbia University’s faculty in medicine and arts and  sciences, has developed the intellectual and clinical principles and practices of the discipline. She has published and lectured extensively on the ways in which narrative training helps to increase empathy and reflection in health professionals and students.  She is editor-in-chief of the journal Literature and Medicine and principal investigator on research projects that study patient-physician communication and the outcomes of narrative training for medical students and health professionals.

She practices general internal medicine in the Medicine Clinic at Presbyterian Hospital. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Endowment for the Humanities, Veteran’s Administration and many private foundations, Charon’s research, scholarship and teaching treat topics of narrative medicine, narrative ethics and narratology. She lectures and publishes widely on the narrative dimensions of health and illness. She is the author of Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness and the coeditor of Stories Matter: The Role of Narrative in Medical Ethics and Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine.

She earned her M.D. from Harvard Medical School and her Ph.D. in English from Columbia University.

Medical-Spirituality Conferences have been sponsored by Boonshoft School of Medicine since 2009. Here is a list of our speakers.