Annual Compassion and the Art of Medicine series begins at BCM

The annual Compassion and the Art of Medicine series hosted by Baylor College of Medicine will begin Friday, Aug. 20.

The series is free and open to the public although seating is limited. All presentations begin at noon, followed by a question-and-answer session at 1 p.m.

BCM's department of family and community medicine presents the series with a grant from The Community Hospital Foundation, Inc.

The 2010 series includes:

"Compassion and the Art of Medicine" – Dr. Warren Holleman (Aug. 20, McMillian Auditorium) director of the Program on Faculty Health and Well-Being, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Holleman is the founder of the Compassion and the Art of Medicine series at BCM, which has served as a model for medical humanities programs in several medical and nursing schools. He founded and served eight years as director of the Baylor - SEARCH Clinic and another eight years as director of the Baylor Star of Hope Center for counseling. Both clinics serve Houston's homeless population.

"The Troubled Physician and the Perils of Professionalism" – Dr. Glen O. Gabbard and Dr. Jeffrey Steinbauer (Aug. 27, Kleberg Auditorium)

Dr. Gabbard is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at BCM whose books include "The Oxford Textbook of Psychotherapy," "Medical Marriages," "Psychiatry and the Cinema," and "The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire and Betrayal in America's Favorite Gangster Family." In 2004, he received the American Psychiatric Association's Adolf Meyer Award, and in 2005 the Rush Medical College Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Dr. Steinbauer is a professor in the department of family and community Medicine at BCM. He serves as chief medical information officer of the Baylor Clinic. His interests range from disability and chronic disease to family dynamics as they affect or are affected by illness.

2010 Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture – Deogratias Niyizonkiza (Sept. 24, Kleberg Auditorium)

This special program is the 2010 Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture and is co-sponsored by Office of Alumni Affairs and Student Connections.

Deogratias Niyizonkiza founded Village Health Works, a clinic in his home town, the rural village of Kigutu in Burundi, in 2005. He fled the country 11 years earlier during a civil war. The conflict had disastrous effects on the country's economy and the citizens' health. He landed in Harlem in New York City, homeless and working odd jobs. He eventually attended Colombia University and the Harvard School for Public Health.

The Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture was established in memory of a first-year Baylor medical student killed in September 2000. The lecture carries on his message of compassion and caring to successive generations of medical students and health professionals. The annual lecture features individuals in the health care field who dedicate their careers to helping the less fortunate of the world.

"Helen Keller Revisited: A Journey from Darkness to Light" – Drs. Rubina and Fareed Khan (Oct. 1, McMillian Auditorium)

Rubina and Fareed Khan were born in Pakistan and graduated from medical school in Karachi. Rubina completed her residency training in pediatrics at BCM and has a private practice in southwest Houston. Fareed completed a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in England and a residency in family medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital, Houston. He currently serves as program director of the Baylor-Harris County Family Medicine Residency Program. They will discuss their experiences as parents of Tania, a child who is deaf-blind.

Houston Playback Theatre (Oct. 8, McMillian Auditorium)

The Houston Playback Theatre is created through a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone tells a story or recalls a moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles and then watches as the story is immediately recreated and given artistic shape. Since 1975, Playback has spread all over the world, and is now practiced in many different countries and in a variety of social and professional settings.

"The Face of AIDS: A Global Perspective" – Dr. Sherri Onyiego (Oct. 15, McMillian Auditorium)

Dr. Onyiego is an assistant professor of family and community medicine at BCM. She completed a HIV Medicine fellowship at the University of Texas at Houston and sees patients at the Martin Luther King Health Center and Thomas Street Clinic, a specialty clinic for patients infected with HIV. She travelled on a medical mission trip to Africa in June 2010.

"The Art of Medicine" Dr. David Watts (Nov. 5, McMillian Auditorium)

Co-sponsored with MD Anderson Cancer Center

David Watts is a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. He has written a book of stories about the practice of medicine, "Bedside Manners," and has written and published three books of poetry. A 1966 graduate of BCM, Dr. Watts, a gastroenterologist, lives in Mill Valley, Calif.

Rick Guidotti and Positive Exposure (Nov. 12, McMillian Auditorium)

Co-sponsored with the department of molecular and human genetics

Traditional photographic images and medical stereotypes of people with genetic conditions are sadly negative, says Rick Guidotti, a former fashion photographer. In 2001, Guidotti teamed with Dr. Diane McLean to create Positive Exposure. With positive photographic images and powerful life stories, Guidotti and McLean challenge the richness of genetic variation. Positive Exposure is a unique partnership between genetics, the visual arts, mental health and human rights.