January 13, 2022
Thresholds: An artist’s exploration of medicine and illness
Heather Huston
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In dialogue with her own faulty immune system, Heather Huston’s artworks examine the body and both its failure and its resiliency in the face of chronic illness. The artist, holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, who is the Director of the School of Visual Art at the Alberta University of the Arts on Treaty 7 lands, where she also teaches printmaking. She has had several solo exhibitions in Canada and internationally, and she has been a part of group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, China, and Turkey. Numerous arts institutions in Canada and the US have acquired her prints for their permanent collections. You can view more of her work at www.hhuston.com. |
February 3, 2022
Creating a play based on stories about the personal experience of breast cancer
Kathleen C. Sitter, PhD, Ruth Lawrence, and Meghan Greeley
Kathleen C. Sitter, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Alberta, and head of the Multisensory Studio (www.multisensorystudio.ca), a laboratory that focuses on research in the field of arts and health. The Studio has produced over 200 works including documentary films, photography, and graphic illustrations.
Ruth Lawrence is a director, actor, writer, and producer of theatre in St. John's, Newfoundland. She is a co-founder and artistic director of White Rooster Theatre, now in its 20th year. Her documentary films have been shown nationally on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company), and in 2020 her film “Little Orphans” was named Best Canadian Feature at the Whistler Film Festival.
Meghan Greeley is a writer, performer, and arts facilitator in St. John's, Newfoundland, where she is artistic associate of White Rooster Theatre and interim executive director of the literary journal Riddle Fence. Her plays have been produced across Canada and published in the anthologies Long Story Short and The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Drama.
March 3, 2022
The Ledger and the Chain:
How domestic slave traders shaped America
Joshua D. Rothman, PhD
Joshua D. Rothman, PhD, is professor of history and chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama. He is the author of three books about the history of American slavery: Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia, 1787-1861 (2003), Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson (2012), and The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America (2021).
April 7, 2022
Hearing Patients: Integrating Narrative Medicine and Music
Sean Bowman
Sean Bowman is a fourth-year medical student at University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine. He majored in chemistry at Auburn and received an MPH from UAB School of Public Health. In July he will begin his residency training in psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. A multi-instrumentalist with a background as both classically trained cellist and rock musician, Sean now enjoys writing both comedic and dramatic music about the experiences of physicians and patients.
"As a medical student, I often observe physicians, nurses, and patients talking past each other, resulting in patients’ frustration, sadness, isolation, and anger. Having been attracted to narrative medicine as a better way of hearing the patient and fostering greater empathy and respect, I have composed several musical interpretations of narratives and sketches of patients in the books and articles by Alan Blum, MD, who has been sharing these stories and artworks as a teacher of family medicine since before I was born."
May 3, 2022
Music and the Mind: The Evolutionary Origins of Musical Memory
Patrick Whelan, MD, PhD
How did the capacity to make and appreciate music evolve? How are we able to remember thousands of songs? What role can music play in helping people recover from stroke and other neurologic disorders? Dr. Whelan, a Lecturer in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, addresses such questions in his popular course, "Music and the Mind." He is also Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UCLA School of Medicine, where he practices pediatric rheumatology and studies the immunologic basis for obsessive-compulsive disorder, tics, and autism in children. In addition, he is Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, where he teaches in the graduate virology program.
May 5, 2022
An Evening with Dr. Raymond V. Damadian, Inventor of the MRI
Interviewed by Alan Blum, MD
Dr. Raymond Damadian, the inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is first and foremost a physician and researcher. His long quest to detect cancer at its earliest stage led him to utilize magnetism and radio waves to record the body’s own subtle signals courtesy of protons that dance in the core of atoms. A Julliard-trained violinist, Damadian relied on creativity and persistence to bring his dream of a life-changing diagnostic tool to fruition. The MRI is considered by many to be the greatest medical invention of the 20th century.
June 9, 2022
Poems: Body and Mind
Robin Behn
UA Professor of English in the Creative Writing Program
Robin Behn is the author of five books of poetry, co-editor of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach, and editor of a new resource for young writers,Once Upon a Time in the Twenty-First Century: Unexpected Exercises in Creative Writing. With photographer John Willis and composer Matan Rubinstein, she created a book and exhibition, Requiem for the Innocent: El Paso and Beyond.
July 7, 2022
From Immorality to Immortality: The disturbing story behind medical eponyms that honor Nazi-era doctors who conducted dishonorable research
Claus Pierach, MD
Dr. Pierach is Professor of Medicine, Program in the History of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He was born in Germany where he studied medicine. He came to this country fifty-four years ago. He still teaches, consults on porphyria, and remains fascinated by the interface between American and German history of medicine.
August 4, 2022
The Art of Frank Calloway:
A new video and website about a fascinating Alabama artist
Alan Blum, MD
"A self-taught artist working with crayon, colored markers, and pencil on butcher paper, Frank Calloway (1915-2014) drew long flowing scenes of locomotives, trucks, trolleys, tractors, fanciful farmhouses, and multi-colored horses and cows grazing on blue, green, or purple grass." (https://frankcalloway.com/menu/)
September 1, 2022
The Many Moods of Bassoon: An introduction
Rachel Frederiksen, DMA
Dr. Rachel Frederiksen is the Instructor of Bassoon at the University of Alabama and serves as principal bassoon of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University. Recently, Dr. Frederiksen performed her Tour of South America recital at the 2022 International Double Reed Society in Boulder, Colorado and at the Puerto Rico Center for Collaborative Piano Festival in San Germán, Puerto Rico.
October 6, 2022
Surgical Revolutions in Art
Don K. Nakayama, MD
Dr. Don K. Nakayama, a pediatric surgeon and Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has written extensively on the history of surgery. He is a graduate of Stanford University and earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, where he completed his residency in general surgery and a research fellowship in fetal surgery. He also completed a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He serves as editor-in-chief of The American Surgeon and as treasurer of the American College of Surgeons.
November 3, 2022
Restoring Notre Dame – A University of Alabama Professor in Paris
Jennifer M. Feltman, PhD
Dr. Feltman is a specialist in the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Her extensive research on Gothic sculpture combines the disciplines of religious studies, the history of the clergy, manuscript studies, and construction technology. As a member of the Chantier scientifique de Notre Dame, a team of scientists and historians selected by the French Ministry of Culture to study the fire-ravaged Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris during its restoration, Dr. Feltman is using 3D modeling to examine the layers of paint on the sculptures of the Last Judgment portal of the cathedral.