UNC Health Sciences Library Hosts Talk on Art and Medicine

The UNC Health Sciences Library will host a panel discussion on October 14, 2009 on the relationship between art and medicine. The talk, “Reflecting the Medical Sciences through Art,” is held in conjunction with “Learned in Science, Explored in Art,” an exhibit of paintings by Dr. Wolfgang Ritschel, professor emeritus at the University of Cincinnati. A painter and sculptor, Ritschel holds doctorates in medicine, pharmacology and philosophy, and a master’s degree in pharmacy. Several of his paintings and collages are on display on the 1st and 2nd floors of the library until December 31.

The talk will cover topics such as whether medicine is an art and a science; where art appears in the everyday lives of scientists; and whether a distinction should be made between “artist” and “scientist.”

The talk will take place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the library’s 2nd floor. Light refreshments will be served.

Panel discussion members are Terrence Holt, M.D., Ph.D., research assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s social medicine department, clinical assistant professor in the division of geriatric medicine and author of In the Valley of the Kings; Gretchen Case, Ph.D., visiting instructor in the medical school’s social medicine department, a Thompson Writing Program fellow at Duke University and adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine; and Ann Millett-Gallant, Ph.D., lecturer in UNC-Greensboro’s liberal studies program and art department and author of the forthcoming book The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art.

For more information and to see images of Ritschel’s art, visit the HSL web site. Health Sciences Library contact: Ginny Bunch, (919) 966-0943, gbunch@email.unc.edu