McGoogan Library presents the 17th annual Richard B. Davis, MD, PhD, History of Medicine Lecture.
All We Do Not Know: The Enduring Mysteries of Medicine in the Age of Information
Date: Tuesday, April 14th
Time: 12-1pm CDT
Location: CON 1011 or via Zoom
Presented by: Dr. Christine Montross, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Medicine is often viewed as a field of clear answers and definitive decisions, yet providers regularly encounter uncertainty—ambiguous science, limits to cure, and situations where action does not necessarily serve the patient. Psychiatrist and author Dr. Christine Montross invites us to see this ambiguity not as a barrier but as a source of curiosity, meaning, and renewed engagement in clinical work. Drawing on her literary and clinical experience, she explores how embracing the unknown can broaden providers’ understanding of what may be “right” for their patients, ease the pressure to always find the perfect answer, and offer a sustainable source of wonder and inspiration within the practice of medicine.
To attend the lecture via Zoom, please register here.
Attend in person: CON 1011
Boxed lunches will be available for the first 20 in-person attendees.
Dr. Christine Montross Biography
A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Nonfiction, Dr. Christine Montross is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a practicing inpatient psychiatrist and performs forensic psychiatric examinations. She completed medical school and residency training at Brown University, where she received the Isaac Ray Award in Psychiatry and the Martin B. Keller Outstanding Brown Psychiatry Resident Award. She received her undergraduate degrees and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Michigan, where she also taught writing classes as a lecturer following graduation. She was born and raised in Indianapolis.
Dr. Montross’s first book, Body of Work, was named an Editors’ Choice by The New York Times and one of The Washington Post’s best nonfiction books of the year. Her second book, Falling Into the Fire, was named a New Yorker Book to Watch Out For. Her latest book, Waiting for an Echo, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was also named a New York Times Book to Watch For, a Time Magazine Book to Read in July, and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month. She has also written for many national publications including The New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine, Time Magazine, The Washington Post Book World, Good Housekeeping and O, The Oprah Magazine. Dr. Montross has been named a Faculty Fellow at the Cogut Center for the Humanities, a MacColl Johnson Fellow in Poetry, and a winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Emerging Indiana Authors Award. She has also had several poems published in literary journals, and her manuscript Embouchure was a finalist for the National Poetry Series.
About the Davis Lecture
The Richard B. Davis, MD, PhD, History of Medicine Lectureship brings national experts to the UNMC campus to discuss the history of medicine in support of special collections at the McGoogan Library, including rare books and works on the history of medicine. The lectureship is supported through an endowed fund given by the late Richard B. Davis (1926-2010), MD, PhD, who was a UNMC faculty member from 1969 to 1994 and professor emeritus of internal medicine at UNMC. Dr. Davis and his wife, Jean, provided support for the lectureship out of his longstanding interest in the history of medicine.