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. Much of life (and some of medicine centers on the ability to visually examine an object or situation and then to describe it both orally and in writing. Come hone these skills and check out some of the world's great art here in Chicago. Each week, we'll go to a different museum (including the Art Institute and MCA) where time will be spent on both individual exploration and group discussion of various works of art of different media. A final project will consist of designing our own JAMA cover with an accompanying brief essay.
—Lindsy Forbess, M4 and Al Telser, PhD Come along on a voyage to discover the truth of the Black Death, the 14th century plague that laid waste to Europe for 300 years. Through the investigation of ground-breaking 21st century historical and zoological research, we will analyze this killer's impact on European society, track the 600-year long hunt for its true medical origins and construct its disease profile. Students should purchase and read in advance Chapters 1-7 of Return of the Black Death: the World's Greatest Serial Killer by Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan.
—Diann Rothwell Lapin, MLS, MEd This seminar will focus on the health of Native Americans and the healthcare available to them, specifically on reservations in the US. We will examine the historical impetus for the creation of Indian Health Service, the historical and current burden of particular diseases on the reservation, and the continued healthcare disparities for American Indians. Finally, we will examine traditional concepts of healing and health in a variety of Native American cultures and discuss whether these are compatible with modern medicine.
—Blayne Amir Sayed, MD, PhD student P.G.Wodehouse said it best: "I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit." Writing serves as many things to many people. For some it's a way of creating meaning in a world starving for it (think Gustave Flaubert, think Virginia Woolf). For others, it's a way of getting to spend time deconstructing the moral landscape of Hollywood madames and loan sharks (think Jackie Collins, think Danielle Steele). For highbrow Victorian gobbledy gook to deliciously bad pulp, writing nurtures us in ways that we ironically don't have words for. This course will provide an opportunity for students to write whatever they would like, from short-stories to creative non-fiction, and have their pieces constructively critiqued by their peers. Through writing exercises, short discussions about flash fiction, and freeform workshops, students will, at the very least, gain an understanding and appreciation for the basics of storytelling. And, more importantly, through the very act of writing, students will be afforded the opportunity to create meaning. Deconstructing moral landscapes is entirely optional.
—Mark Gindi, M4 Engage your senses and increase your responsiveness to visual cues. Through repeat visits to the galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago, this seminar offers an opportunity to enhance your visual sense and analytical skills, as well as your communication and critical thinking skills, by observing art. After a week to get our looking skills warmed up, each following week will explore a different set of medically-related concerns including aging, body language and gesture, ideals of health and beauty, and diagnostic research. No previous art history knowledge is necessary and, in fact, it should be left at the door!
—Sarah Alvarez, MA Physicians have the opportunity to know human beings in every conceivable circumstance, and some have written extraordinary fiction, poetry, and drama. We'll read Anton Chekhov and William Carlos Williams; before the December break we'll choose three others from a list that includes John Keats, Arthur Conan Doyle, and contemporary writers Walker Percy, John Stone, Richard Selzer, Samuel Shem, Perri Klass, Ethan Canin, Rafael Campo, Abraham Verghese, Susan Onthank Mapes, Nawal El Saadawi and Atul Gawande. (Books available in Abbott Hall bookstore.)
—Kathryn Montgomery, PhD
We will explore various doctors' experiences as patients, primarily through their own accounts. We'll read selections from several books such as Kay Jamison's An Unquiet Mind, David Biro's One Hundred Days, Robert Pensack's Raising Lazarus, and Jamie Weisman's As I Live I Breathe. This survey of the literature will inform our discussion of themes such as self-reliance, coping, disclosure, the decision to seek treatment, and recovery.
—Rachel Jacobs, Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology
To be "embodied" is to know in and from the body, from a subjective place. Medicine is a practice that, paradoxically, can become disembodied, objectifying the patient, the physician, and their bodies. Tools mastered by dance/movement therapists, such as kinesthetic empathy, movement observation and nonverbal attunement will open new methods of strengthening the physician-patient relationship. Through experiential learning, discussion, and readings such as Arthur Frank's The Wounded Storyteller, this seminar will move participants toward more accurate assessment, more effective treatment, and greater understanding of their patients' experiences in and from their bodies in illness and in healing. Please come dressed comfortably to move. (Instructors are all faculty members from Columbia College Chicago's Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling Department.)
—Susan Imus, MA, ADTR, LCPC, GLCMA, Leonore Hervey, PhD, ADTR, NCC, Shannon Lengerich, MA, ADTR, LCPC, and Laura Downy, MA, DTR What do we learn from history? Using the rich resources of the Galter Health Sciences Library, this seminar will explore the history of medicine through the examination and review of primary texts. Students will choose a disease or health issue and trace it back from contemporary times to the 15 th or 16 th century, focusing on the connection between the literature of that period and what we know today. Each student will report on at least one primary text from the century that is that week's focus; at least one presentation will be with PowerPoint. Limited to 6 students.
—James Shedlock, AMLS, Ron Sims, MALS, and Ramune Kubilius, MALS This seminar seeks to accomplish two objectives: 1) to provide medical students with a core knowledge about the leading known cause of mental retardation in this country and possibly worldwide, and; 2) to encourage them to think about the various dimensions of FASD and the way in which it will influence their roles as physicians. Participants will make two off-site visits during the 5-week period.
—Lisa Thornton, MD, Kathy Mitchell, National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
This seminar will examine the nation's health care system and the current proposals for reform. We will focus on the economics of health care delivery and on the implications of the managed care revolution. The seminar will also examine the roles of the state and federal governments in developing a more equitable and cost efficient method of health care delivery.
—James R. Ferguson, JD This seminar is designed to provide students with a unique perspective on human anatomy. Participants will explore the human form through clay sculpture. This is a hands-on sculpting class with a live model taught by a Chicago sculptor who has studied in Italy. Limited to 6 students.
—Vincent Hawkins, MFA "It is my aspiration that health will finally be seen not as a blesing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN. Promoting and protecting health and respecting, protecting, and fulfilling human rights are inextricably linked. This course focuses on the relationship between them. It examines the origins of health and human rights concerns and defines the ethical obligations of health professionals in the face of human rights violations. The seminar aims to provide students with an understanding of the link between health and human rights through readings and class discussion.
—Annamaria Pastore, MA, MA This seminar explores the complex relationship among law, medicine, and philosophy at the nexus of major issues in the field of bioethics. It begins with a brief historical as well as theoretical introduction to bioethics as an integrated discipline, and then turns to reflection on how classic legal cases in bioethics have shaped the field and created the codes and norms that surround the medical and scientific profession's own understanding of their roles as codified in the Code of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association, the literature of bioethics, and newly produced international codes from scientific societies. We will explore public understanding of the cases as reflected in the science and popular journalism surrounding each case, and how the subsequent public response was enacted in state and federal legislation. Such cases and codes address emerging dilemmas in health case access, truthtelling, neuroscience, reproduction, genetics, death and dying, organ donation, and basic and translation research, such as stem cells, nanotechnology and genomic mapping. Limited to 7 medical students.
—Laurie Zoloth, PhD This class is inspired by the collection of anomalous fetuses in jars along the wall of your anatomy lab. In the first half of the seminar students will investigate the issues raised by such a collection through a multi-disciplinary lens. We will draw on experts from fields such as history, disability rights, genetics, law, philosophy, obstetrics, religion, literature, and the visual arts. In the second half of the seminar, students will apply what they've learned as they select, design, and create multi-media contributions to the collection. The ultimate goal is to transform the collection into more of a "museum" that provides insight, raises issues, and teaches the conflict for future anatomy students.
—Kyle Nash, PhD, and Katie Watson, JD Many so-called ‘psychiatric problems' that arise in medical and surgical patients are the effects of stress caused by patients' medical illness and treatment. When unrecognized or inappropriately labeled as ‘psychiatric' these difficulties may adversely affect patient care and treatment outcome. This course will focus on developing expertise in recognizing and dealing with four psychiatric issues that arise in practice of general medicine: delirium, demoralization, suicidal thinking, and refusal of medical advice. Readings from Psychiatric Dimensions of Medical Practice by Phillip Slavney, MD. Classes held at 100 West Monroe, suite 1101. (Book available at Abbott Hall bookstore.)
—Alexander Obolsky, MD Until recently, medicine, and much of the world, saw sexual identity and preference as either
psychologically determined from childhood or a matter of "choice of life style." It turns out "it ain't
necessarily so." The novel Middlesex and the journalistic account of "David" in As Nature Made Him
bring out some of the complexity that attend sex, sexuality, gender, and who knows what else.
—Joel Frader, MD and Alice Dreger, PhD Doctors are expected to listen carefully to stories of illness, of pain, and of myriad healthcare needs. Becoming a storyteller is a good way to begin to understand the impulses, structures, and meaning behind the words. In this course, we will read, discuss, and perform both fiction and nonfiction, including folktales, urban legends, "old wives' tales," personal narratives and oral histories. We will pay special attention to oral traditions created around ideas of health and illness and compare those ideas across several cultures. No storytelling experience is necessary.
—Gretchen Case, PhD This course will examine various areas of women's health in both the developing world and the United States, including: 1) maternal mortality/safe maternity/maternity care; 2) family planning/contraception/abortion; 3) cervical cancer prevention; 4) health issues for women with disabilitites; 5) refugee and immigrant health, and/or 6) HIV/AIDS. We will explore these issues both locally and globally, taking a multi-disciplinary approach. In the process we will uncover the socio-economic, cultural, ethical and political issues underlying these isses and problems in women's health.
—Judith Weinstein, MA, MPH | | |
