SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 24, 2017 - University of Florida Medical Center (Jacksonville), Grand Rounds, visiting professorship.


PAST EVENTS

October 21, 2016 - Resurgens Orthopedics, Bone Connection: Innovations in Orthopedics. "Anesthetic Concerns in Outpatient Orthopedic Surgery."


September 28, 2016 - Emory-St. Josephs Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds, "Bugs and Drugs 101: Microbiology and Antibioitics for the Anesthesia Professional"


September 2, 2016 - Emory University Hospital, Department of Ophthalmology Grand Rounds, "Women in Medicine"


May 28, 2016 - Commencement address, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Shreveport, LA.


May 24, 2014 - Commencement address, Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton OH.
(Transcript of address)


April 28, 2012 - Keynote speech at the South Carolina Medical Association annual meeting, Myrtle Beach, SC.


April 23, 2012 - Talk at the 36th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants (AAAA), Grand Hyatt San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.

2:00-3:00pm - "Obesity and Implications in Anesthesia and Critical Care."

3;00-4:00pm - "The Social Network: Online Identity, Professionalism, and the Modern Practice of Medicine."

February 27, 2012 - Wellesley College, Wellesley MA
Hippocratic Society Annual Lecture, keynote speaker
Dinner, talk, book signing and reception


January 26, 2012 - University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA.

I will be giving two presentations at UCD, the first for a lunchtime Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) work-life balance workshop, and a longer talk at the school's annual Wellness Lecture (5:00pm).

October 15th, 2011

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
"Empowering Future Physicians" Conference
"Medicine, Balance, and Maintaining a Realistic Approach" (see full program)

September 28th, 2011

St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta
Physician Specialists in Anesthesia, Departmental Education Conference
"The Social Network: Online Identity, Professionalism, and the Modern Practice of Medicine."

September 4th, 2011

2011 AJC Decatur Book Festival
Decatur Conference Center Stage (Ballroom B)
Book talk, reading, signing.

August 27th, 2011

Georgia Society of the American College of Surgeons Annual Meeting
"Women in Medicine, Balance, and Mentorship" (see full program)
Grand Hyatt, Atlanta, GA

July 12th, 2011

The American Medical Students Association (AMSA)
Webinar: "Medicine, Balance, and Maintaining a Realistic Approach." 
(Links to the recorded session and the slides can be found here.)

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NEW YORK CITY, NY
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
6:00pm-8:00pm

Columbia University Bookstore
2920 Broadway
Lerner Hall
New York, NY 10027
212-854-4131

Talk, book reading, signing, Q&A.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

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PHILADELPHIA, PA
Friday, May 13th, 2011
6:00pm

Penn Book Center
130 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 222-7600

Talk, book reading, signing, Q&A. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

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BOSTON, MA (Cambridge)
Monday, May 16th, 2011
7:00pm

The Harvard Coop Bookstore
1400 Massachusetts Avenue 
18 Palmer Street 
Cambridge,  MA 02238
(617)499-2000

Reading, signing, Q&A.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

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ATLANTA, GA
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
7:00pm

Atlanta History Center
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30305

Presented by the Literary Center at Margaret Mitchell House
Purchase tickets ($5 for AHC member, $10 for non-members)

Reading, signing, Q&A.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

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IOWA CITY, IA

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

6:00-8:00pm

Prairie Lights Bookstore

15 South Dubuque St.

Iowa City, IA 52240

319-337-2681

A short reading from my book, THIS WON'T HURT A BIT (and Other White Lies) at the world-renowned Prairie Lights bookstore.

Iowa Writer's Workshop

University of Iowa, Iowa City

The Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

2:15-3:30pm

Humanism: The Radical Notion that Doctors are People, Too

Medical students start their training with a level of optimism and altruism unmatched by doctors at any other point in their training or careers. But usually by the time students graduate from medical school, cynicism starts to set in. By residency, the numerous stressors take their toll. Long days, late nights, seemingly endless stretches spent away from loved ones, and the stress of working in an environment where life and death often walk side-by-side--training in medicine can be an incredible experience, but often a dehumanizing one as well.

For years, studies have consistently shown that medical students experience depression, burnout, and other mental illnesses at higher rates than their age-matched cohorts, and physicians have a higher rate of suicide than the general population—40% higher for male doctors, and an astonishing 130% higher for female physicians. Mental burden aside, the other unfortunate side effect of dehumanizing our young doctors is that they in turn start to dehumanize their patients.

If there is one thing that medicine possesses in spades, it's historical precedent, and the punishing and often monastic life of the medical trainee is notorious. But does it really make for better doctors?

In this presentation, we will discuss the unique stressors endemic to the medical profession, especially during the training years, and discuss coping and lifestyle strategies both in and out of the hospital. The session will be part presentation, part open discussion forum, and people should feel free to discuss their own stories and ways that they've found to cope with the rigors of the medical training process.

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 

9:00-10:15am

Web MDs: A Panel of Doctors from the Blogosphere

Physicians blog for myriad reasons: as therapy, as art, as critique of the medical-industrial complex. Voices abound: the solo practitioner, the neophyte, the patient as muse, the solace-seeker, the academic simplifier, the physician as patient. Blog as a literary form encompasses the gamut of emotions, from pathos to anger, from humor to trivia, from reverence to snark. Suffering through the educational and professional journeys is a most prevalent theme; humor as a coping strategy is widely reflected in the personas taken on by physician bloggers. Why do we write? Who is the intended audience? What does our blogging say about us as doctors? As people? How has the confessional nature of blogging changed the doctor-patient relationship? How do the inevitable issues of patient privacy and confidentiality come into play? And how do our blogging voices impact the doctors we've become? Three physician panelists will reflect on these questions and welcome wide ranging discussion from audience members.