The screening will begin at 6:30 PM, to be followed by a dialogue led by Lisa McGiffert, Co-Founder of the Patient Safety Action Network. Ms. McGiffert was named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” She has spent her career, and now her retirement, fighting for patient safety. She was previously the Director of Consumer Union’s Safe Patient Project, advocating on an array of patient safety issues, including preventing medical errors and improving the safety of medical care and devices. Prior to her work with the Consumer Union, McGiffert analyzed policy and legislation for the Health and Human Services Committee for the Texas State Legislature. One of her biggest priorities was the development and implementation of a state health and human services policy.

McGiffert is a relentless advocate who has helped push forward patient safety laws across the country. In 2003 she started a campaign to encourage states to require hospitals to report hospital infections. Thirty states have since adopted the policy, and now Medicare, the country’s largest insurer, has adopted infection rate disclosure legislation as well.

McGiffert is passionate about patient safety and incorporating patient’s voices into the decision-making and approval processes. She advocates to have patients present at FDA committees and hearings, as this promotes effective patient safety measures. Now that McGiffert is retired, she is heavily involved with the leadership committee of the Patient Safety Action Network (PSAN), a national coalition of patient advocates focused on promoting transparency and accountability as a vehicle to safer healthcare.

Controversy & Conversation is a collaboration between the Humanities Institute's Difficult Dialogues Program and the Austin Public Library. Documentary screenings take place the first Thursday of the month at the Terrazas Branch of the Austin Public Library. Screenings begin at 6:30 PM and are followed by a 30-50 minute community conversation. Light refreshments are provided.

Please note that there will not be a documentary film screening in January, and our Spring 2020 series will begin on Thursday, February 6, 2020 (further details to follow).

Announcing the Spring 2020 Health & Humanities Research Seminar Series

The Spring 2020 Health & Health Humanities Research Seminar (HHRS) Series will feature UT researchers in the fields of communication, social work, and population health. Held since Fall 2018, the HHRS Series is a partnership between the Humanities Institute and Dell Medical School, with major support from the College of Liberal Arts. A centerpiece of the Humanities Institute's Health and Humanities initiatives, the seminars are intended to engage scholars and practitioners in research-oriented dialogue at the intersection of health and humanities disciplines. Each seminar begins with a presentation by a speaker and is followed by discussion and casual conversation over refreshments.

Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) Summer Institute and Funding Opportunities

The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), to which our Humanities Institute belongs, regularly posts opportunities for humanities scholars. Please visit the CHCI website for information on humanities and health humanities fellowships, academic positions, and conferences, including the Summer Institute of the CHCI Health and Medical Humanities Network, to be held in June 2020 at the University of Southern Denmark. Proposals for papers and panels on the theme of “Space, Place and Design in the Medical and Health Humanities” are due on January 15, 2020. Funding is available for graduate student participation.