Call for Abstracts—National Conference on Medicine and Religion, May 28-30, 2013, Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago

Dear Colleague,

The 2nd Annual National Conference on Medicine and Religion, sponsored by the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago, will provide a forum for scholars and health care professionals to ask what it means to care and how religious traditions and practices—particularly those in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—inform possible answers to the question.

What is the care that faith requires, with respect to one’s patients, one’s colleagues, and oneself? How are professionalized forms of care related to and potentially in tension with the care provided in other contexts? How do both types of care relate to the care taught by different religious traditions? What sort of care does contemporary medicine propose to provide and actually provide? What can we learn from paradigmatic expressions of care found within religious texts and historical or contemporary religious communities? How do illness experiences and health care practices inform and shape religious norms and practices? How do religious traditions and practices challenge or propose an alternative to conventional health care norms and practices?

Keynote Speakers include:
Najah Bazzy, RN, President, Zaman International and CEO, Diversity Specialists and Transcultural Health Care Solutions
David Novak, PhD, Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto
Warren Reich, PhD, Director of the Project for the History of Care, Georgetown University
John Swinton, PhD, Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, University of Aberdeen

We invite abstracts for 60-minute panel sessions, 20-minute paper presentations, and posters that address the issues at the intersection of religion and medicine. We also invite student participation in an essay contest.
A panel session should incorporate more than one perspective on a cohesive theme. The perspectives should compare and contrast and build on one another. A moderator should also be designated.
A paper session should be a structured discussion or lecture based on a paper or a work-in-progress. The work presented may be empirical or theoretical, descriptive or normative. One or more authors may present, but either the first author or the senior author must present. The central content of the presentation should not be previously published material.
A poster presentation should demonstrate or explain a concept, work of art, or empirical research project.
Student essay submissions should be full papers of no more than 6,000 words, relevant to the conference theme. The winner will receive complimentary conference registration and travel.
All proposals must be submitted online by 4pm (CT), Monday, December 17, 2012. For further information and to submit an abstract, please go to http://pmr.uchicago.edu/2013-conference. Questions should be addressed to Annikea Miller at annikea@uchicago.edu.

The inaugural conference earlier this year attracted 250 participants from all over the country. We are looking forward to another wonderful event in 2013. Please help us spread the word by forwarding this email to your friends and colleagues and by distributing a printable flyer at your institution.

Sincerely,
Dan Sulmasy, MD, PhD
Farr Curlin, MD

Co-Directors, Program on Medicine and Religion
University of Chicago
http://pmr.uchicago.edu

More details here