NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE - History of Medicine Division
SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 2:00-3:15 pm, Lister Hill Visitors
Center, Bldg 38A, NLM; Bethesda, MD
The Art of Medicine On Stage: An Historical Perspective
Speaker: Angela Belli, PhD, St. John's University
The physician-patient relationship has been depicted in plays created
from earliest times to the present, including those of Sophocles,
Shakespeare, and a number of modern playwrights. The focus in such works
is often on the merits of empathy and "tender charity" in the treatment
of physical and psychic disorders. Particularly in periods when
scientific knowledge was severely limited, a physician's ability to
nurture a patient's wounded spirit has been foregrounded as a
much-needed skill capable of effecting a cure. A number of contemporary
dramatists, cognizant of the intersecting strands of medical discourse,
have taken as their subject the view frequently held by patients and
supporting medical ethicists that as medical knowledge has advanced, the
practice of nurturing the spirit has appeared to regress or even been
lost.
Responding to the issues of the times and emphasizing the need to
recover the spirit of empathy as advanced in the dramas of their
predecessors, modern playwrights have reaffirmed the essential
humanistic perspective with which scientific practice must be infused to
create an art of medicine.
Angela Belli is Professor of Literature at St. John's University in New
York City.
All are Welcome
Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be on Tuesday, October
17, 2006 from 2:00-3:15pm, in the Lister Hill Auditorium; NLM's Bldg
38A. Dr. Herbert Reynolds of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute will speak on "How Laennec Changed Medical Practice."
Sponsored by the History of Medicine Division, National Library of
Medicine. Sign language interpretation will be provided. Individuals
with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in
this event should contact Stephen Greenberg at (301-435-4995), e-mail
greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised
to consult the NIH Visitors and Security website at:
http://www.nih.gov/about/visitorsecurity.htm
Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD
Coordinator of Public Services
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
301-435-4995
greenbes@mail.nih.gov