Dr. Lauren Barron Keynote Speaker at the Mayo Clinic's Humanities in Medicine Symposium

WACO—Oct. 14, 2019— The annual Humanities in Medicine Symposium will be held at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona from October 24, 2019 to October 26, 2019. The gathering is designed to bring artists, humanists, and healthcare providers together to showcase research and best practice surrounding the intersection of arts and humanities with healthcare.

The symposium will aim to identify ways in which health humanities and the arts can provide valuable teaching tools for healthcare professions. Attendees will hear from practitioners who have enhanced their practice through their work in Health Humanities.

Lauren Barron, M.D. will be a keynote speaker at the symposium. Dr. Barron is the Director of the Medical Humanities Program at Baylor University, as well as a Clinical Professor and Family Practitioner. She will be discussing the importance of the human presence as the center focus of healthcare.

Dr. Barron emphasizes that the humanities have shaped her education and medical practice, and she aims to equip students and health professionals with an understanding of the human experience through the humanities.

“If you don’t know about human nature, you’re not going to know how to take care of humans.” Lauren Barron, M.D.

“Technology and science alone will never solve our patients’ problems. We have to learn from the tradition of the humanities; from literature, religion, philosophy, history about human nature so that we can understand it well enough to take care of our patients.” Lauren Barron, M.D.

Dr. Barron will be joined by two of her students, Jada Rosa and Deborah Otuno, who will share the impact that the humanities have had on their education and preparation for a career in healthcare.