This symposium will address critical topics in international health care and issues of disparity within the U.S. health care system, paying attention to the political and economic forces that contribute to these health care disparities/inequalities. It will focus on potential solutions to the many problems that exist and how humanities, especially literature and the arts, might contribute to those solutions.

Faculty to date:

Roger Cram, MBA; Director of Special Projects, Hiram College
Ruth DeGolia, Executive Director and Co-Founder Mercado Global , a fair trade non-profit organization
Gilbert Doho, Ph.D. Associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature and Director of Ethnic Studies Program at Case Western Reserve University
Dr. Roy Jacobstein, MD, MPH, MFA, Clinical Director, EngenderHealth
James Kazura, M.D., Director, Center for Global Health & Diseases Case Western Reserve University
Elizabeth Kucinich, and a panel of northeast Ohioans involved in microfinancing and other projects that leverage change in deloping countries
Patricia Marshall, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Bioethics, Associate Professor of Anthropology , Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
Catherine Monnin, Director of Worldview International based in Olmsted Falls, Ohio
Isaac Mwase, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, National Bioethics Center, Tuskegee University
Stephen J. Petras, Jr. is an international business lawyer at Baker Hostetler's International Industry Team
Dennis Raphael , Ph.D., Professor of Health Policy and Management, York University in Toronto , Canada
Linda Rea, Ph.D., Professor of Communication, Hiram College
Sonia Shah, investigative reporter, author of two books; one on clinical trials and the other on efforts to control malaria
The symposium will also include panel discussions and paper presentations.

Artists to Date:

Warren Byrd and David Chevan, two jazz artists from Connecticut, have created a distinctive musical program they call
Afro-Semitic Experience

Gary Harwood is a photographer and David Hassler is a writer: both have received awards from the Ohio Arts
Council. Harwood and Hassler worked together to produce the photo-journal, Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community.

Passport Project, under the direction of Chloe Hopson, a multicultural arts education company from Cleveland, will work with us throughout the symposium on dance and a readers' theater of Gilbert Doho's play, The Visionary of the Sacred Wood, a story of indigenous people defending their home environments and sacred spaces against outside developers.

Biographical Information

Schedule of Events

Thursday, June 21, 2007
Registration and housing check-in 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Mahan House

Lunch is available for purchase in the Kennedy Center Food Court.

1 – 1:15 p.m. Welcome
1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Plenary—Dennis Raphael
2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Break
2:45 – 4 p.m. Plenary—James Kazura
4 – 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 – 5:30 p.m. Papers
5:30 – 6 p.m. Break
6 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
8 p.m. Afro-Semitic Experience (This
performance is co-sponsored by
the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s
Department of Bioethics.)

Friday, June 22, 2007
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 – 10:15 a.m. Plenary—Roy Jacobstein
10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel—Elizabeth Kucinich (moderator); Ruth DeGolia, Roger Cram, Stephen J. Petras, Jr.,Catherine Monnin
12:30 – 2 p.m. Lunch
2 – 3:15 p.m. Plenary—Patricia Marshall
3:15 – 3:30 p.m. Break
3:30 – 5 p.m. “The Growing Season,” David Hassler, Gary Harwood
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Break
6:30 p.m. Dinner
8 p.m. Performances by Passport Project

Saturday, June 23, 2007
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9 – 10:15 a.m. Plenary—Linda Rea
10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. – Noon Papers
Noon – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Plenary—Sonia Shah
2:45 – 3 p.m. Break
3 – 4:30 p.m. Performance of The Visionary of the Sacred Wood
6 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
8 p.m. Performance: Passport Project –World Music Dance

Sunday, June 24, 2007
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9 – 10:30 a.m. Panel—wrap up with Isaac Mwase
10:30 – 11 a.m. Evaluations

During the symposium, participants will engage with researchers, health care professionals, humanities and social science scholars, and artists on such issues as:

* What commitments to human moral equality and justice are required of the biomedical research community, public health care planners, providers of health care, and distributors of resources? What are obstacles to and ways of resolving issues of national and international health care injustice and poverty? What are examples of successful solutions or at least steps in that direction?

*What narratives drive individuals and organizations to adopt other-regarding behavior? How do the world's drama, music, art and literature help address problems of national and international poverty and health care?

*What should motivate peple to help others--to make a difference or to make a living? Can the two motivations be combined?

Call for papers for the symposium

Paper proposals will be due no later that April 15; notification within two weeks of receipt of proposal, no later than May 1. We also invite proposals from artists, writers, musicians, dramatists about works appropriate to the symposium.

Click below for detailed information on registration, room and board or contact Teddie Joeright at 330-569-5380 or Joerightta@Hiram.edu

Registration; room and board

An intensive four-hour graduate course connected to the symposium will begin on June 18 at Hiram. It will conclude June 24. For more information, contact mais@hiram.edu or call 330-569-6111.

The Summer Symposium is supported in part by a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.