InCHIP Lecture: "The Clinical Arts and Literary Sciences of Narrative Medicine"

Rita Charon is a general internist and literary scholar who originated the field of narrative medicine. She is the Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine, the founding chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, and Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. She serves as the Executive Director of Columbia Narrative Medicine. She completed the MD at Harvard and the Ph.D. in English at Columbia, concentrating on the works of Henry James. Her research investigates narrative medicine training, reflective practice, health care justice, and health care team effectiveness and has been supported by the NIH, the NEH, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, and many other private foundations. She was selected by the NEH to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in 2018, the highest academic distinction awarded by the Endowment. She has authored, co-authored, or co-edited four books on narrative medicine. She lectures and teaches internationally on narrative medicine and is widely published in leading medical and literary journals.