Health and Human Values Cluster

The Interdisciplinary Cluster for Human Values in Health Care seeks to provide opportunities for people throughout the University community and beyond to reflect on, learn about, and appreciate ways in which the humanities and the arts can enhance people’s health and the delivery of health care.

The Cluster sponsors a number of events each year, including:

An annual Bioethics and Medical Humanities Grand Rounds, featuring a nationally known expert in bioethics and/or medical humanities who makes grand rounds presentations in several departments in the medical center and on campus, and also gives a public lecture.

• 2019 – Panel Presenters: Jon Stadt; Eileen Welsome, BA; Gary Chadwick, PharmD, MPH; and Rebecca Garden, PhD
• 2018 – Paul T. Menzel, PhD, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Pacific Lutheran University
• 2017 – Sander L. Gilman, PhD, JD, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University
• 2015 – Lainie F. Ross, MD, Professor of Clinical Ethics, Pediatrics, Medicine and Surgery, University of Chicago
• 2014 – Jay Baruch, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Brown University
• 2013 – Bonnie Steinbock, PhD, Professor of Philosophy, University of Albany
• 2012 – Kathryn Montgomery, PhD, Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics and Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• 2011 – Carl Elliott, MD, PhD, Professor, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota
• 2010 – Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, New York University of Medicine
• 2009 – Rebecca Dresser, JD, Professor of Law and Professor of Ethics, Washington University School of Law
• 2008 – Samuel Gorovitz, PhD, Professor of Philosophy, Syracuse University
• 2007 – Rita Charon, MD, Founder and Director, Columbia University School of Medicine Narrative Medicine Program

Events co-sponsored with other entities within and outside the university, such as:

• 2018 – “Intersections of Art Analysis and Medical Diagnosis” presented by Siobhan Conaty, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History, LaSalle University
• 2018 – “Photographing with Passion and Purpose: a Cultural and Medical Journey” presented by Alison Wright, a renowned National Geographic photographer.
• 2017-18 – Destigmatizing Through Humanizing: A unique exhibit of artwork created by internationally renowned artist Charmaine Wheatley.  The art celebrated the spirit of Rochester’s mental wellness and the HIV/AIDS communities.  Co-sponsored with the Center for AIDS Research, the Office of the SMD Vice Dean for Research, the Division of Medical Humanities & Bioethics, Department of Psychiatry, and School of Nursing.
• 2017 – “Facing the Guilt, Remembering the Victims: A German Physician Confronts the History of her Family and Profession in WWII” presented by Franziska, Eckert, MD, a radiation oncologist from Tuebinge, Germany, cosponsored with the URMC Office for Inclusion and Culture Development and the UR Schyve Center for Bioethics.
• 2017 – Ani Tsering Palmo, a Buddhist nun and traditional healer, from Ladakhi, India, met with students and faculty.  She created an organization of nuns that go out into the community to improve healthcare in a remote area in the Himalayas and are conducting research in rural villages as part of health promotion outreach.
• 2016 – “The Social, Cultural, and Political Sides of China’s HIV Epidemic” presented by Elanah Uretsky, PhD, co-sponsored with the Department of Anthropology and the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
• 2015 – “Is Religion Good for Your Health” presented by Harold Koenig, MD, Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, Professor, Duke University Medical Center, part of Meliora weekend.
• 2015- Special Bioethics Noon conference "The Guilt that Lies Beneath" presented by David Healy, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Bangor University, Wales
• 2014 – The play “Informed Consent” at GEVA, followed by a moderated panel discussing the cultural and ethical issues around the case presented in the play.
• 2013 – “Medicine in Musicals II: A Broadway Cabaret” produced and directed by fourth year medical student, Jason Reminick.
• 2012 – “The Reel Mind,” a series of one performance and four films about mental illness.
• 2012 – “Medicine in Musicals: A Broadway Cabaret” produced and directed by fourth year medical student, Jason Reminick.
• 2012 – “Honoring the Circle: Lessons in Patient-Driven Care from the American Indian Communities” presented by Theresa Maresca, MD, Medical Director for Snoqualmie Tribe.
• 2009- presentation by Dr. Jonathan Shay about Ulysses and psychiatry co-sponsored with the Memorial Art Gallery and the Department of Psychiatry
• 2008-presentation by Dr. Jeffrey Lyness on Duke Ellington (aging and creativity)
• 2007-presentation by Col. Cathy Platoni on psychological stresses of war

• Exhibits in Miner Library featuring work by students
• Support for student literary journal

Membership

The co-chairs of the Cluster are:

• Richard Dees, PhD. Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Medical Humanities and Bioethics
• Stephanie Brown Clark, MD, PhD. Associate Professor Medical Humanities and Bioethics

The Executive Committee of the Cluster is composed of:

• Peg Bierley, MSW — URMC, Social Work
• Richard Demme, MD — SMD, Nephrology, Medical Humanities and Bioethics
• William FitzPatrick, PhD — CAS, Philosophy
• Antoinette Jakobi, MD — SMD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Susan Ladwig, MPH — URMC, Palliative Care
• Sally Norton, PhD, RN — SON; SMD, Medical Humanities and Bioethics
• O.J. Sahler, MD — SMD, Pediatrics, Medical Humanities and Bioethics
• Madeline Schmitt, PhD, RN — SON
• Margie Hodges Shaw, JD, PhD — SMD, Medical Humanities and Bioethics

In addition, approximately 300 members of the University and the Rochester community are Cluster Associates on our regular mailing list.

Contact person — Mary Fisher, Administrator
Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics
School of Medicine and Dentistry
Box 676
(585) 275-5800
mary_fisher@urmc.rochester.edu