KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (Sept. 2, 2008 ) – A.T. Still University’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM) will host its Cultural Competency and Spirituality in Medicine Conference September 12-13, 2008. The conference will explore spirituality in medicine and spiritually/culturally competent care. Topics will include patient values, belief systems, cultural and psychosocial factors in health practices, the nature of suffering, and self-care concepts.

Students and professionals who are interested in these topics are encouraged to attend. The registration fee is $20 and includes all conference materials and a continental breakfast and lunch on September 13. The registration fee is $10 for students, and KCOM students may attend the conference for free. The registration deadline is Wednesday, September 10. For registration materials and more information contact Carrie Gaines, sponsored projects coordinator, at 660.626.2860 or cgaines@atsu.edu.

Pauline W. Chen, M.D., is the keynote speaker and will discuss “The Tyranny of Diagnosis: One Surgeon’s Search for What Really Matters.” Dr. Chen, a liver transplant and liver cancer surgeon, is the author of “Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality” (2007), a New York Times bestseller. She graduated from Harvard University and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her surgical training at Yale University, the National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health), and UCLA, where she was most recently a faculty member in the Department of Surgery. In 1999, she was named the UCLA Outstanding Physician of the Year.

This conference is sponsored in part by The George Washington Institute for Spirituality in Health Spirituality and Medicine Curricular and Residency Training Program Award funded by the John Templeton Foundation and ATSU’s Pre-doctoral Training in Primary Care, Grant Number D56HP08338 funded by the Division of Medicine, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services. GWISH is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Founding osteopathic institution one of four medical schools honored nationwide

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (Nov. 2, 2006 ) – The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) has announced A.T. Still University as one of four schools among the nation’s 144 osteopathic and allopathic medical universities to receive the prestigious 2006 Spirituality and Medicine Award for Curriculum Development. The award encourages the full integration of a more compassionate and humanistic approach to healthcare by recognizing outstanding programs that incorporate issues related to spirituality and medicine in the curriculum.

“Beginning with Dr. Still himself, our focus has always been to care for the whole person,” said ATSU President James McGovern, Ph.D. “It is no surprise, then, in a day and age when the rest of the world is awakening to the realization that people are more than just isolated cases of disease or impairment that ATSU is recognized as a national leader in whole person healthcare.”

Dr. McGovern noted that a strong emphasis on compassion and humanism would not be possible without strong leaders within the university.

“This recognition can be wholly attributed to the hard work and dedication of ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine administration and faculty,” he said.

The $50,000 award from GWish is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.