Hydrofracking: An Integrative Workshop at Duke

On January 9, 2012, Duke University will be holding a one-day workshop: Environmental and Social Implications of Hydraulic Fracturing and Gas Drilling in the United States: An Integrative Workshop for the Evaluation of the State of Science and Policy. Sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment and the School of Law, the event is open to the public, but seating is limited and registration is required. The workshop will bring together industry representatives, scientists, governmental regulatory agencies, and environmentalists, and will feature sessions on the Environmental Protection Agency, major scientific findings, and the legal and socio-economic aspects of hydrofracking.

To learn more about the workshop and to register, visit the workshop website. An overview of Duke researchers' work on hydrofracking is also available online, as well as key policy papers and recommendations.Update: Video of the three public sessions at the workshop is now available online.



Note: The video and graphic above are from ProPublica, which has investigated environmental issues related to hydrofracking around the country.

Trent Center Lecture on Eugenics and Bioethics: "Unsettled Legacies"

The first lecture of the new academic year in the Trent Center's Humanities in Medicine Lecture Series will be by Dr. Eric Juengst, the new director of the UNC Center for Biomedical Ethics. Entitled "Unsettled Legacies: Early 20th Century Eugenics, Late 20th Century Bioethics, and Where We Go from Here," the lecture will take place 12-1 pm, Monday, September 13, 2010 in the Duke Hospital Lecture Hall 2001. (Click on image to enlarge flyer).

Of related interest is two earlier Common Curator posts on Eugenics: The History of Eugenics in North Carolina and North Carolina Dedicates Eugenics Historical Marker.

New Curator for Duke History of Medicine Collections

Rachel C. Ingold has been appointed the new Curator for the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University Medical Center Library. She will start September 1, 2010. The previous Curator, Suzanne Porter, retired at the end of July after a long and successful career at Duke, UNC, and other institutions.

Prior to this appointment, Rachel has served in the Conservation Unit in the Duke University Libraries, as an intern at the EPA Library, as an intern the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, and as a Library Technician at the Library of Congress. She has nearly 13 years worth of experience in a library setting.

Rachel holds a BA in Political Science and a BA in Women's Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in Women's Studies from George Washington University, and an MLS from North Carolina Central University. She is a member of the America Library Association and the Special Library Association.

Trent Society Lecture: Pathology at Duke

Conference on Poetry and Caregiving at Duke

Life Lines: Poetry for Our Patients, Our Communities, Our Selves
A Conference Examining the Place of Poetry in Caregiving

May 21-23, 2010
Duke University
Sponsored by Duke Medicine

Program and Schedule
Speakers and Panelists
Registration

What are the challenges and benefits of offering poetry to patients? Can the sharing of poetry expand the vision of practitioners and students in healthcare professions? What is the role of poetry in community treatment programs? In shelters? In prisons? What can caregivers gain from writing and reading poetry?

This conference is designed for those who have an interest in examining the place of poetry in caregiving. Three panels of poets and health practitioners will present perspectives on the ways poetry can play a part in caring for our patients, our communities and our selves. Through discussion sessions, participants will have an opportunity to share experiences, to dialogue, to develop techniques, and to gain a deeper appreciation for poetry in the art of healing. Highlights of the conference include Friday and Saturday evening talks by poets David Whyte and Jane Hirshfield. Ms. Hirshfield will also offer a master class in poetry writing on Sunday morning. Join us as we hear from physicians, therapists, and poets and discuss the practicalities and possibilities of poetry in health care.

Registration is limited to 150, to allow lots of time for conversation and dialogue amongst those attending. Those who cannot make the whole conference might well be interested in the evening lectures by David Whyte on Friday ($20/$10 students) and Jane Hirshfield (free to public).

For more information about LIFE LINES: Poetry for Our Patients, Our Communities, Our Selves please contact: Grey Brown, Literary Arts Director, Health Arts Network at Duke, Duke University Medical Center (brown097@mc.duke.edu), or Dr. Frank Neelon of the Conference Planning Committee (919-618-1757).

Bullitt Club Lecture: "The South's Secret Weapons: Disease, Environment, and the Civil War"

The next meeting of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club will be Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at the UNC Health Sciences Library in the 5th Floor Conference Room (527). Please join us at 5:30pm for light refreshments followed by the lecture at 6pm. Meetings are free and open to the public.

Dr. Margaret Humphreys, the Josiah Charles Trent Professor in the History of Medicine at Duke University, will be presenting a lecture entitled, "The South's Secret Weapons: Disease, Environment, and the Civil War."

Dr. Humphreys received her PhD in the History of Science (1983) and MD (1987) from Harvard University. She is the author of Yellow Fever and the South (1992) and Malaria: Poverty, Race, and Public Health in the United States (2001), books that explore the tropical disease environment of the American South, and its role in the national public health effort. She teaches the history of medicine, public health, and biology at Duke University, where she also edits the Journal of the History of Medicine. Her current research concerns the impact of the Civil War on American Medicine. The first book to emerge from that project, Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War, appeared in 2008.

For further information about the Bullitt Club, including the schedule for 2009-10 and mp3 recordings of past lectures, please visit the Bullitt web site.

Duke Program on Health, Social Justice, and the Civil Rights Movement

Health, Social Justice, and the Civil Rights Movement
in American Medicine: A Series of Interdisciplinary Programs at Duke University, March 3-4, 2010

With award-winning scholar John Dittmer, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Depauw University, author of The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care (2009) and Local People: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (1994)

:: The Civil Rights Roots of Healthcare Activism
Wednesday, March 3, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
John Hope Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Road, Room 240

A panel discussion with:
John Dittmer, PhD
Sharon Elliott-Bynum, RN, BSN, MA, PhD, Co-Founder & Clinical Director of CAARE, Inc.
Open to the public. Lunch will be served.

:: Health & Social Justice: Practice and Research -- A Forum for Graduate and Professional Students
Wednesday, March 3, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

For readings and location information, contact Abby Goldman, eag14@duke.edu

:: Justice in Healthcare, Today and in the Past: A Conversation with John Dittmer
Thursday, March 4, 5:30 pm -7:00 pm
John Hope Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Road, Room 240

Panelists will include:
Onye Akwari, MD, Surgery
William Chafe, PhD, History
Dennis Clements, MD, Infectious Disease, Pediatrics, Global Health Institute
Sherman A. James, PhD, Public Policy, Community & Family Medicine, African & African American Studies
Evelyn Schmidt, MD, Director, Lincoln Community Health Center
Open to the public. Wine and cheese reception will follow.

For more information: Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine 919.668-9000 or trent-center@duke.edu. For additional events, see the Trent Center's online calendar.

Duke Lecture Series: The Future of the Past, the Future of the Present

Duke University's Provost's Lecture Series takes as its theme for 2009-10 "The Future of the Past, the Future of the Present: The Historical Record in the Digital Age." Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh will be delivering the first lecture in the series, "A Report Card on Obama's Foreign Policy," on Tuesday, October 13, 5-6:30pm in Page Auditorium.

On October 26, Diana Taylor will be lecturing on "The Digital as Anti-Archive?" and on January 19, 2010, Lynn Hunt will speaking on "The Digital Revolution in the Humanities: Does It Create New Knowledge or Just Makes Us Work Harder?" Further information on the Provost's Lecture Series is available on the Duke web site.