Recent Dimensions Presenters
Dimensions is a purposeful academic enrichment program which helps creatively prepare our students for successful careers in a variety of health professions. These enrichment opportunities include workshops, seminars and classroom lectures by distinguished campus visitors.
|
“Singular Intimacies:Using Literature to Bridge the Cultural Gap” public lecture by Danielle Ofri Ofri is a physician and teacher at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States. In her practice and as an assistant professor of medicine at New York University, Ofri has focused on reaching the real humanity of her patients and on teaching young doctors how to do the same. She is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Bellevue Literary Journal, the first literary journal published by a hospital. The journal publishes essays, fiction, and poetry about patients as people and the art of healing. She has also written a medical memoir entitled, Incidental Findings. |
 |
|
The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care” public lecture by T.R. Reid. T. R. Reid has become one of the nation’s best-known reporters through his coverage of global affairs for The Washington Post, his books and documentary films, and his light-hearted commentaries on National Public Radio, including “Morning Edition”. In his global quest to find a possible prescription for our ailing healthcare system, Reid visited wealthy industrialized free-market democracies like our own, finding inspiration in example. Reid shares evidence from doctors, government officials, health care experts, and patients the world over, finding that foreign health care systems often provide more choice and shorter waiting times than the United States. He raises the poignant question, “Should health care be a human right?” |
 |
|
"Humor and Health” a public lecture by Patch Adams Adams is a doctor, clown, and social activist, as well as the founder of the Gesundheit Institute, a holistic medical community that has provided free health care to thousands of patients since 1971. He is also the author of Gesundheit and Housecalls and the inspiration for the hit movie, Patch Adams. His presentation to the Cornell campus examined the relationship between humor and the health of the individual, community or society and the practice of medicine for fun, not for funds. |
 |
|
“The God Gene”, a public lecture by Dean Hamer The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes is a provocative book that argues religious belief is a product of DNA. Hamer explained the combination of behavioral genetic, neurobiological and psychological studies upon which the God-gene hypothesis is based. |
 |
|
"On the Mend, Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry" by Dr. John Toussaint John Toussaint (’78), MD, is CEO emeritus of ThedaCare and CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dr. Toussaint’s work using Toyota Production System principles shows how fundamental healthcare improvements can be made at the point of delivery using the proven principles of lean management. He has written two books highlighting the core elements necessary to transform healthcare and enhance patient value: delivery of care designed around the patient, transparency of treatment quality and cost and payment for outcomes. |
 |
Additional Workshops & Seminars
“Curing Sickle Cell Disease”
Jane Sande, M.D., is Medical Director for The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Their Sickle Cell Disease Program is one of the largest in the country and is at the forefront in treating children with sickle cell disease and other red blood cell disorders. Through blood transfusions and new drug treatments, their specialists ease the disease’s effects. Dr. Sande discussed the medical, social and economic impact of Sickle Cell Disease and efforts to curie the disease via bone marrow transplantation
"9 Million Child Deaths: Where, Why and What Can Be Done?"
John Murray, M.D., a global health care expert, has worked on the design and implementation of primary health care programs in 15 countries throughout Asia and Africa. He has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, focusing his work on maternal and child health. Dr. Murray presented about low-cost public health initiatives that are being used to treat/cure common illnesses and diseases in developing countries that kill both infants and children. His visit builds upon the Dimensions' reading group discussion of Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains.
"Prion Diseases: Misfolded Proteins and a New Class of Infectious Diseases"
Anthony Kincaid, Ph.D., P.T. lectured about prion diseases in animals and humans. Kincaid is an associate professor of physical therapy at Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions.
"Breast Cancer Gene Symposium"
Chris Hansen, the lead attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, highlighted the major arguments in their lawsuit against Myriad Genetics in which they challenging the pharmaceutical company holds on the breast cancer genes. The lawsuit contends that the patents are unlawful because genes are “products or nature” and that these patents restrict patients' access to medical care and stifle scientific research on cancer.
"International Studies of Pre-term Birth"
Jeff Murray, M.D., presented on the challenges and rewards of studying the genetic and environmental causes of birth defects and pre-term birth. His presentation will emphasize how programs develop and the importance of international collaborations in addressing these major causes of infant death worldwide. Murray is a professor of neonatology and genetics, and professor of biological sciences, dentistry, and epidemiology at the University of Iowa.