2023-24 SPRING NEWSLETTER

Center for Health Ethics, Arts, & Humanities

SPRING | 2023-24 | 03

CENTER DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE

January 2024 brings exciting news for the Center and our collaborators, marking the beginning of a clinical ethics consultation program. A formal program offering consultations with a dedicated ethicist to clinicians, patients, and family members has been a Center goal for many years, and was made possible through a groundbreaking partnership with the Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Education, U of U Health (University Hospital), Intermountain Healthcare (Canyons Region and Primary Children’s Hospital), the Department of Pediatrics, and the College of Humanities (Dept. of Philosophy) at the U.

Eleanor Gilmore-Szott arrives this month as the director of the program. She is returning to the U, where she completed her PhD in the Dept. of Philosophy, by way of a Clinical Ethics Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Gilmore-Szott shared some thoughts on why this new program is such an important step.

Director of Clinical Ethics Consultation Program

ELEANOR GILMORE-SZOTT, PHD, HEC-C

“There’s an opportunity for this program to have a significant impact on a region of the country that has not previously benefitted from a formal clinical ethics program, that is now used in many major academic medical centers. These programs rely on specialization and expertise to support patients, families, and clinicians when ethical issues arise in the healthcare setting. I’ve seen the positive impact of a robust ethics consult service. I know where our program can go and it’s exciting to be at the beginning of making that happen.

“It is especially exciting to develop a program that is affiliated with a center that thinks about medicine from so many different perspectives. Medical and health humanities is so valuable to healthcare today—it's in the name—humanness of healthcare is key right now. Being a clinical ethicist [and] having this wealth of other resources to draw from, other ways of thinking, is really encouraging. Just looking at the faculty affiliated with the Center: Wow, everybody's doing such cool things.

“I'm very much interested in collaborating on education about clinical ethics and the practice of medicine and other clinical specialties. I am interested in working with the Philosophy department as they get additional programs related to clinical ethics up and running, and think it will be really exciting to get a clinical ethics perspective built into a lot of health sciences education.

“I'm thrilled to be back in Utah. I think it's one of the most beautiful places on the planet. My partner and I have moved so many times, but driving up to Salt Lake City through Moab, I thought: Right. We're in the right place.”

Be on the lookout for educational opportunities to hear from Dr. Gilmore-Szott and join me in welcoming her back to the amazing hiking, skiing, and food that she missed while away from Utah. Even if it means shoveling snow for the first time in years!

CENTER DIRECTOR

GRETCHEN CASE

SPRING LECTURES

2023-24 GREEN MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES

Director of the CHLA Center for Pediatric Bioethics and Keck School of Medicine, USC

SABRINA DERRINGTON, MD, MA, HEC-C, FAAP

February 22, 2024

SERIES EVENTS

PEDIATRIC GRAND ROUNDS: "Relational Ethics and the Art of Pediatrics"
ETHICS EXPLORED: "The Arc of Hope: Existential Questions in Serious Illness”

In collaboration with Primary Children's Hospital (PCH) & U of U SFESOM - Department of Pediatrics
and acknowledges the Medical Staff Office at PCH for their support of the lecture

more details

2023-24 COWAN-MAYDEN MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES

April 10-12, 2024

SERIES EVENTS

*While Dr. Ray is in town she will also join us for our LITERATURE & HEALTHCARE discussion of her book: Black Health: The Social, Political, and Cultural Determinants of Black People's Health
INTERNAL MEDICINE GRAND ROUNDS: “How Social and Clinical Inequities Create Patients”
ETHICS EXPLORED: "More Than Just a Number: Using Our Stories to Navigate Anti-Black Racism and Poor Health"

McGovern Center for Humanities & Ethics at UT Health Houston & Director of the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration

KEISHA RAY, PHD

co-sponsored with the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (EHSL) &
in collaboration with the U of U SFESOM - Department of Internal Medicine

more details

FACULTY/STAFF

BECOME AN AFFILIATE

Collaborate with us!

details & application

STUDENTS

MEDICAL STUDENT AWARD

Call for Papers!

Deadline: March 1, 2024

more details

LITERATURE & HEALTHCARE DISCUSSION GROUP

This informal group is facilitated by expert faculty and meets monthly to discuss books and other texts that address health and healthcare.

2nd Wednesdays, 6-7:30pm
Virtual
1.5 credits CME
details

JANUARY 10

Facilitator: Susan Sample, PhD, MFA

Book: A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermancence
by Mary Pipher

Susan's notes

NATIONAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH

FEBRUARY 7*

Facilitator: Rachel Borup, PhD

Book: Libertie: A Novel
by Kaitlyn Greenidge

*February's discussion will be the 1st week due to the Valentine's Day conflict on the 2nd week

Rachel's notes

MARCH 13

Facilitator: Mark Matheson, DPhil

Book: What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
by Stephanie Foo

Mark's notes

APRIL 10

Facilitator: Gretchen Case, PhD, MA

Book: Black Health: The Social, Political, and Cultural Determinants of Black People's Health (Bioethics for Social Justice)
by Keisha Ray, PhD (our 2023-24 Cowan-Mayden Memorial Lecturer)

*Dr. Ray will join us for the discussion!

Gretchen's notes

ETHICS EXPLORED DISCUSSION SERIES

Informal, multidisciplinary discussions about current issues in healthcare ethics
1.5 credits CME
details