Conference Schedule   

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Monday
April 7, 2025

 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m.: Services -- Catholic (Father Robert Ihuoma) (Capistrano), Jewish (San Felipe), Muslim (San Carlos), and Protestant (Raymond Morehouse) (Viejo)
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7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Continental Breakfast (East Galleria)
"Meet the Professor" gatherings, where a more senior leader in the field welcomes others to join him/her at breakfast to discuss items pertaining to medicine and religion. 
Farr Curlin, MD, Duke University
Asma Mobin-Uddin, MD, MA, FAAP, The Ohio University Center for Bioethics
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​"Meet with an Author", where a recently published book related to religion and medicine can be discussed with the author at breakfast.  
Rebecca Martin, MD, "Though the Darkness: Medicine, Missions and Meeting God in Nepal" (TurtleCat Press, 2023)
Aasim Padela, MD, MSc, FACEP, "Maqasid Al-Shariah and Biomedicine: Bridging Moral, Ethical and Policy Discourses" (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2025)
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8:30 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.:  Paper Presentations

8:30 a.m. - 8:55 a.m.
Midwives @ the Edges (Capistrano)
​Carrie Blake, EUCLID, Washington D.C.

Graduating from Life: Exploring the Religious and Legal Complexities in an End-of-Life Care Case of a 4th-Year Medical Student (Laguna)
Ummesalmah Abdulbaseer, MD, Ramandeep Kaur, MD, Alejandro Pinedo, MD, Misha Shah,DO, Manuel Antonio Hache Marliere, MD and Jessica Kuppy, MD, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL

Please Baptize My Dying Atheist Son (Viejo)
Abram Brummett, PhD, HEC-C and Tate Shepherd, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI

Misthanasia, the Social Death: A Liberating Way to Understand End of Life in Global Public Health (Monarch Bay)
Alexandre Martins, PhD, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Songs of Hope and Hopelessness: Sufjan Stevens as a Model and Means of Verhey’s Compassion Looking Heavenward (China Cove)
Brandon Oddo, BS, and Lily Weir, BA, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC and Briana Oddo, MSW, Boston College School of Social Work, Boston, MA

Curiosity as Vice? The Virtue of Studiositas in Medical Education (Catalina)
Benjamin Frush, MD, MA, Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Learning on the Destitute: Student-Run Free Clinics and the Option for the Poor (Lido Room)
Hannah Hittson, UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX and Kayal Parthiban, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
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8:55 a.m. - 9:20 a.m.
Spiritual Pain Screening in Critically Ill Patients (Capistrano)
Allison Kestenbaum, MA, MPA, BCC-PCHAC, ACPE, Amy Bellingausen, MD, and Rev. Stephen Lewis, MA, MDiv, BCC, UC San Diego Health, La Jolla, CA

“We Must Compete With Angels in Goodness”: Translating a Theist’s Account of Flourishing in Medicine (Laguna)
Sami Ahmad, Pittsburgh, PAU​

Transhumanism and Transubstantiation: A Eucharistic Philosophy of Technology in the Age of the Post-Human (Viejo)
Andre Chavez, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO

Rethinking Relationality: Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Imago Dei (Monarch Bay)
Andrew Kim, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University, North Chicago, IL

The Legal Right to Discriminate: How the Church Wields Power Against Disabled Individuals and Its Moral Obligation Not To (China Cove)
Jessie Sage Cheng, BS, RN, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Paul as Paradigm for Praxis: Paul Farmer’s Contribution to Liberation Theology (Catalina)
Annah Kuriakose, MD, MTS, MA, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ

Approaching Moral Problems in Mental Health Treatment (Lido Room)
John Peteet, MD, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

9:20 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Before You Go: Embracing the God-given Design of Human Finitude Among New Nurses (Capistrano)
Sarah Templeton, DNP, FNP-C, Biola University, La Mirada, CA

Addressing ‘Big’ Questions About the Human Being: Empirical Findings from an Islam & Bioscience Educational Intervention for Premedical Students in Two Countries (Laguna)
Aasim Padela, MD, MSc, FACEP, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, Initiative on Islam and Medicine; and Raudah Mohd Yunus, MBBCH, MPH, DrPH, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Transhumanism and the Technocratic Paradigm: Connecting Environmental Ethics and Biomedical Ethics Through Pope Francis's Encyclical Laudato si (Viejo) 
​Anjola Onadipe, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI

Moral Expertise in Bioethics and the "Prophetic-Poetic" Ability to Name (Monarch Bay)
Martin Fitzgerald, PhD, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Three New Books on Hope, with Bioethical Reflection (China Cove)
Benjamin Parviz, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO

Medicine and Bioethics as a Democratic Moral Tradition (Catalina)
Student Essay - First Place
Caterina Baffa, Boston College, Newton, MA

Communal Lament and Active Love: Integrating Faith and Medicine to Heal the Marginalized In Our Communities (Lido Room)
Namrata Mathew and Emma Lindahl, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

9:45 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.
For I Desire Mercy and Not Outreach Programs: A Re-Working of the Prophetic Critique for the Digital Age (Capistrano)
Bradley Thornock, Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine, St. George, UT

Filling in the Margins during Dying and Death through Communal Support: Applying the Islamic Duty of Fard Al-Kifayah (Communal Responsibility) (Laguna)
​Asim Babar, Hines VA Medical Center, Hines, IL, Darul Qasim College, Glendale Heights, IL; Omar Hussain, Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville, IL, Darul Qasim College, Glendale Heights, IL;  Yasir Akhtar, Tennessee Heart Clinic, Knoxville, TN, Darul Qasim College, Glendale Heights, IL; Waqas Haque, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Darul Qasim College, Glendale Heights, IL; Noman Zaheer, Tameh Rohani, Waqas Mughal, and Mohammed Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim College, Glendale Heights, IL

Between Over-Spiritualization and Over-Medicalization: Combatting Hermeneutic Injustice and Marginalization through Investigating Conceptual Frameworks for Mental Disorder in Religious Communities (Viejo)
Kate Finley, Hope College, Holland, MI

Hope, Jurgen Moltmann, Transformative Therapies and Cystic Fibrosis: Unlikely Ties that Bind and Inspire (Monarch Bay)
Mary Dell, Institute of Living/Hartford Healthcare, Hartford, CT, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT; Kimberly Pasley, Stephanie Sliemers and Rylie Young, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH; and Anne May, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

The Bioethics of Elfland: Imagining a Chestertonian Bioethics (China Cove)
Dominic Robin, Saint Louis University, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, St. Louis, MO

How The Gospel of John Established a Model of Flourishing (Catalina)
Tanner Clements, MDiv, Uplift Applachia, Johnson City, TN

The God Who Sees: Embodying the Narrative of a Wounded Healer to Preserve Tenderheartedness in Medical Trainees (Lido Room)
Madeline Erwich, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

10:10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Break

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.:  Welcome and Plenary Session  
"Religion/Spirituality and Health: Positive Affirmations and Disquieting Questions"
(Santa Ana/Costa Mesa)

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch (Terrace Pavilon 2nd Floor)
"Meet the Professor" gatherings, where a more senior leader in the field welcomes others to join him/her at lunch to discuss items pertaining to medicine and religion. 

"Meet with an Author", where a recently published book related to religion and medicine can be discussed with the author at lunch. 
John Peteet, MD, Harvard Medical School, "The Virtues in Psychiatric Practice" (2022, Oxford), and "Eastern Religions, Spirituality and Psychiatry" (2024, Springer) 
Helen Rhee, PhD, MDiv, Westmont College, "Illness, Pain and Health Care in Early Christianity" (2022, Eerdmans)
Matthew Vest, PhD, The Ohio State University, "Ethics Lost in Modernity" (2023, Cascade Books)
Jonathan Weinkle, MD, FAAP, FACP University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, "From Illness to Exodus: A Passover Meditation on Empathy, Health and Healing" (2025, Resource Publications)

1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.: Panel, Workshop and Paper Presentations 

Panels
Should Bioethics Be Cosmopolitan? (Monarch Bay)
Courtney Thiele, JD, MA, Martin Fitzgerald, PhD, Matthew Vest, PhD, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; and Jason Eberl, PhD, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO

Bringing Innovation and Compassion to Patients with Drug Dependency: An Islamic Perspective (China Cove)
Yasir Akhtar, TN Heart Clinic, Knoxville, TN; Umar Shakur, Insight Chicago, Chicago, IL; Omar Hussain,  Pulmonary Medicine Associates, Chicago, IL; Sara Alattar, Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL; 
Kanwal Ahmed, UT Southwestern Medicine Center, Dallas, TX; and Akbar Ali. Ahsan Arozullah and Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim College, Chicago, IL

Nourishing Flourishing Communities: Food and Eating in the Provision of Just Care (Lido Room)
Victoria Behm, Duke University, Durham, NC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; Brewer Eberly and Heather Plonk, Duke University, Durham, NC; C. Phifer Nicholson, Jr., MD, MTS, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; and Chris West, The Conservation Fund, Raleigh, NC

Workshop
The Medical Humanities Difference: Christian Students' Journeys to Serving Marginalized Communities in Health Care (Viejo) 
Isabelle Russo and Aron Basurto, Baylor University, Waco, TX
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Papers

1:00 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.
Exploring the Impact  of Faith Maturity on Depression and Suicide (Capistrano)
G. Camelia Adams, Cameron Bye, Mariam Alaverdashvili, and Stephen Adams, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

“Our Suffering Neighbor”: Catholic Health Care & A Moral Obligation to Address Oral Health  (Laguna)
Sibil Shibu, University of Alabama Birmingham Medicine, Birmingham, AL, Loyola University, Chicago, IL

1:25 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Religion and Spirituality in Pediatric Mental Health: A Scoping Review of Research Trends and Themes in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2000-2023) (Capistrano)
Khalid Elzamzamy, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; Sadiq Naveed, Department of Psychiatry, Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Manchester, CT; and Mary Lynn Dell, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Living/Hartford Healthcare, Hartford, CT

Healthcare Chaplains as Institutional ‘Wildcard’: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Evolving Role of Spiritual Care in Complex Cases (Laguna)
Patrick Tugwell, MDiv, STM, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, Assisted Home Health & Hospice, Santa Barbara, CA
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Global Health and the Feminine Genius: Following the Example of Anna Dengel (Catalina)
Giang Ha, Duke University, Durham, NC

1:50 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Esperanza en Chicago - Radical Hope in and through Chicago's Migrant Population  (Capistrano)
Lindsay Mahler, Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood IL

The Spiritual Impact of Trauma: Acknowledging Spiritual Wounding as Part of Holistic Care (Laguna)
Vincent Starnino, PhD, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

Movements from the Margins: Learning from the Prophetic Witness of John M. Perkins (Catalina)
Chad Thompson, MD, Baylor University, Waco, TX, Waco Family Medicine Institute, Waco, TX

​2:15 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.: Break

2:40 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.: Panel, Workshop and Paper Presentations

Panels
Empowering Students to Reach the Margins: Compassion and Ethics Education in Medicine (Laguna)
Marianne P. Florian, PhD, MTS, MA, McGovern Medical School, UTHealth, Houston, TX, Institute for Spirituality and Health, Houston, TX; Charles E. Barber, PhD, MTS, Independent Scholar, Jackson, GA; Gioconda Mojica, MD, UTHealth, Houston, TX; and Jessica N. Wise, PhD, MPH, McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, UTHealth, Houston, TX

The Emerging Tradition of Secular Bioethics (Monarch Bay)
 Jason Eberl, PhD, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO; Abram Brummett, PhD, HED-C, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI; and Matthew Shea, PhD, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville, OH

Mapping Spiritual Care in the Population Health and Ambulatory Settings (China Cove)
Antonina Olszewski, Catherine Chang, Tina Guynn, Allison DeLaney, Chantell Poole, Christa Chappelle , R. Greg Stratton, Charles Valenti-Hein, Jennifer Prior j, and Jennifer Jarvis, Ascension, St. Louis, MO

Irony and Insight: Exploring Moral Descriptors in Modern Medical Training (Lido Room)
Ben Frush, MD, MA, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Brewer Eberly, MD, MA, Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC, Fischer Clinic, Raleigh, NC; Ashley Moyse , PhD, Columbia Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, New York, NY; and Emmy Yang, MD, MTS, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC

Workshop
Reconciling Religious Values and Professional Ethics When Caring for LGBTQ Patients (Viejo)
Khalid Elzamzamy and Margaret Chisolm, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; and Rumia Owaisi, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Papers

2:40 p.m. - 3:05 p.m.
“From the Town to the Village”: Sustaining Care in a Rural Sudanese Hospital (Capistrano)
C. Phifer Nicholson Jr., University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Electrotherapy and the Spirit in Wesleyan Thought: Hope for Healing Marginalized Bodies by Dismantling Ableism and Embracing the Pneuma (Catalina)
Angela Molloy, Iliff School of Theology/University of Denver, Denver, CO

3:05 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
The Parted Sea: Bereaved Parents Reflecting on Hope during Hospice through Photovoice (Capistrano)
Allie Superdock MD,  Joanna Luttrell MA, CCLS, CPMT, and Erica Kaye MD, MPH, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN; Veronica Colmenares BA, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY; and Meaghann Weaver MD, MPH, U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, Washington, D.C.,University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Witnessing to Hope Amid Deaths of Despair:  A Christian Account of Suicide Prevention (Catalina)
Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD, Duke University, Durham, NC

3:30 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.
Unto the Least of These: Caring at the Margins by Authority or Power? (Capistrano)
Matthew Vest, PhD, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Approaching Conceptual Barriers to Christians’ Acceptance of Mental Health Treatment (Catalina)
John Peteet, MD, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

3:55 p.m. - 4:20 p.m.: Break

4:20 p.m. - 5:35 p.m.: Plenary Session - Panel Discussion "Because You Were Strangers: Religious and Spiritual Perspectives on Caring for Refugees" (Santa Ana/Costa Mesa)

5:35 p.m. - 6:50 p.m.: Poster Session and Reception (Mesa Verde)

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.: Group Dinners (Sign-up at Registration)
"Buddhism & Applications of Comparative Theology in Healthcare" (Angelin Mathew, Yale University School of Medicine)
"Empathy and Generative AI in Healthcare" (Marianne Florian, PhD, MTS, MA, UT Health - Houston & Institute for Spirituality and Health) 
“The Future of the Ableism Discussion in Light of Advances in Genetic Testing: A Dinner Discussion with Brian Brock” (Whitny Braun, PhD, MPH, MA, Loma Linda University and Brian Brock, DPhil, Kings College, University of Aberdeen)
"LGBTQ+ Health and Religion" (Tanenbaum)
"Talking to Loved Ones About Death" (Arielle Friedtanzer, MA, End-of-Life Consultant)

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