December Narrative Medicine Rounds

“Writing a Biography: The Promise and Peril of Telling Someone Else’s Life,” a talk by professor Maura Spiegel

For our December Narrative Medicine Rounds, we welcome Maura Spiegel, who teaches literature and film at Columbia University and Barnard College. She is co-director of the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Humanities and Ethics at Vagelos Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she also teaches a film course to first-year medical students.

Spiegel has lectured on Narrative Medicine in Venice, London, Dublin, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Baroda, India, and in cities around the U.S. She co-authored The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine; The Grim Reader: Writings on Death, Dying and Living on, The Breast Book: An Intimate and Curious History; she edited and introduced new editions of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes for the Barnes & Noble Classics Series.  With Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Spiegel edited the journal Literature and Medicine (Johns Hopkins University Press) for seven years.  She has written for The New York Times and Newsday and has published articles on the history of the emotions, Charles Dickens, Victorian fashion, diamonds in the movies, among many other topics.  Spiegel’s new book is Sidney Lumet: A Life, a biography of legendary American film director Sidney Lumet, published by St. Martin’s Press.

Narrative Medicine Rounds are monthly rounds on the first Wednesday of the month during the academic year hosted by the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. These events are free and open to the public.

PLEASE NOTE: December Narrative Medicine Rounds will take place in the Alumni Auditorium, instead of the Faculty Club.