About Us
The annual Conference on Medicine and Religion is a leading forum for discourse and scholarship at the intersection of medicine and religion. It exists to enable health professionals and scholars to gain a deeper and more practical understanding of how religion relates to the practice of medicine, with particular attention to the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The forum is intended in a spirit that builds bridges between theory and practice, science and theology, the academy and lay communities, the various health professions, and religious traditions.
Each year, the conference is organized by a local planning committee of clinicians and scholars who work at the intersection of medicine and religion. Each conference features both keynote speakers and peer-reviewed paper sessions, panels, workshops and posters. The inaugural conference, held in Chicago, May 23-25, 2012, was entitled "Responding to the Call of the Sick: Religious Traditions and Health Professions Today". Subsequent conferences were as follows: "What Does It Mean to Care?", (Chicago) 2013; "Responding to the Limits and Possibilities of the Body", (Chicago) 2014; "Spiritual Dimensions of Illness and Health", (Boston) 2015; "Approaching the Sacred: Science, Health and Practices of Care", (Houston) 2016; "Re-Enchanting Medicine", (Houston) 2017; "Examining the Foundations of Medicine and Religion", (St. Louis) 2018; "My Pain is Always With Me", (Duke) 2019, "True to Tradition? Religion, the Secular and the Future of Medicine", (Virtual) 2021; "Space for the Sacred in the Care of the Sick", (Portland) 2022; "At the Limits of Medicine: Caring for Body and Soul" (Columbus, Ohio) 2023; and "In Pursuit of the Great Coherence: Healing in the Spaces Between" (Indianapolis, Indiana) 2024.
Each year, the conference is organized by a local planning committee of clinicians and scholars who work at the intersection of medicine and religion. Each conference features both keynote speakers and peer-reviewed paper sessions, panels, workshops and posters. The inaugural conference, held in Chicago, May 23-25, 2012, was entitled "Responding to the Call of the Sick: Religious Traditions and Health Professions Today". Subsequent conferences were as follows: "What Does It Mean to Care?", (Chicago) 2013; "Responding to the Limits and Possibilities of the Body", (Chicago) 2014; "Spiritual Dimensions of Illness and Health", (Boston) 2015; "Approaching the Sacred: Science, Health and Practices of Care", (Houston) 2016; "Re-Enchanting Medicine", (Houston) 2017; "Examining the Foundations of Medicine and Religion", (St. Louis) 2018; "My Pain is Always With Me", (Duke) 2019, "True to Tradition? Religion, the Secular and the Future of Medicine", (Virtual) 2021; "Space for the Sacred in the Care of the Sick", (Portland) 2022; "At the Limits of Medicine: Caring for Body and Soul" (Columbus, Ohio) 2023; and "In Pursuit of the Great Coherence: Healing in the Spaces Between" (Indianapolis, Indiana) 2024.