Could Amerindian healers work side by side with biomedically trained health professionals?

Is integration or collaboration suitable for organizing culturally sensitive health care systems?

Healers and doctors collaboration is good for Amerindian communities' health?

April 21, 2004

Healer-Physician Collaborations in the Americas:
The Indigenous Peoples' Experience

For details about our program, please click here

The Luce Faculty Seminar on "Healer-Physician Collaborations in the Americas" will be held in Claremont, California during Spring, 2003. The Faculty Seminar is part of our new intercollegiate, interdisciplinary program in Brain, Mind and Medicine: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. It is an initiative of Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd Colleges, funded by 
The Henry R. Luce Foundation.

The main goal of the Luce Faculty Seminar is to provide the most up-to-date exposure to innovative interdisciplinary research and initiatives on healer-physicians collaborations in the Americas.  The seminar will focus on the achievements of the Indigenous and Western medical systems collaborative endeavors for the betterment of physical and mental health of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.

Our guest speakers are leading researchers, who have skillfully undertaken an interdisciplinary/integrative approach in studying the potential of integrating the work of healers and biomedically trained health professionals.

The Luce Faculty Seminar has been designed specifically for faculty members of the Claremont Colleges. Due to marked interest of students they will be accepted on a selective basis.

On the basis of our past experience, a diverse group of scholars from a wide range of backgrounds will participate. We expect to bring together anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, political scientists, engineers and others into an open and active discussion. We hope this will be a wonderful interdisciplinary communication with lasting fruitful dialogue.

The seminar will start at 11:00 am and will end at 1:00 pm.  We will have four 15-minute presentations followed by discussion and informal conversation between the lecturers and faculty over lunch.

For details about our PROGRAM, please click  

Information:
Cathy Corder
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Harvey Mudd College
301 E. 12th Street
Claremont, CA 91711

Telephone: (909) 621-8022
Fax: (909) 607-7600
Email: Cathy_Corder@hmc.edu

Conference Coordinator
Lise Bouchard, Ph.D.

Scientific inquiries:
Mario Incayawar, MD, MSc.
Luce Professor in Brain, Mind & Medicine: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd Colleges

Telephone: (909) 607-7699
My Webpage

PAST LUCE SEMINARS AT A GLANCE

MIND-COMPUTER INTERACTIONS

This was an engaging discussion of the most innovate research being conducted in the field of computer-mind interactions. In the March session, the audience learned that computers can assist research and treatment, but daily computer use can also cause stress. Currently, virtual reality is used to treat phobias and computer chips to restore vision. The April session was a lively discussion of the beneficial and harmful effects of Internet and computer usage on mental health. The Luce Seminar attracted a diverse audience of students, professors, and community members.

HEALTH DISPARITIES IN THE USA

This was a highly successful series of high-caliber speakers.  It has been one of the most popular Luce Faculty Seminar themes. Health inequalities and disparities according to ethnicity, age, gender and health conditions were examined.  The timing of our seminar was remarkable and the issues raised were in line with the Institute of Medicine's breakthrough report: "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care." More information on this report could be found at Unequal Treatment

THE SCIENCE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Original, interdisciplinary research on the nature, mechanisms, and effectiveness of alternative and complementary medicines has been presented.  A very successful series on a current topic that attracted many people both from the Claremont Colleges and the surrounding communities.

Spring 2000

FINE ARTS, BRAIN, AND MEDICINE

The most up-to-date exposure to innovative and interdisciplinary research on the interactions between the fine arts practices, brain/mind, and physical and mental health.  We also covered amazing research on the relationship between artistic creativity and mental disorders.
  The lecture topics have been selected with the general idea of illustrating the workings of the embodied mind and the environmentally embedded brain.