The Georgetown Medical Humanities Initiative Co-Sponsored the 2022 Health Humanities Conference

The Georgetown Medical Humanities Initiative was one of the sponsors of the 2022 Health Humanities Conference, which took place on March 25, 26 and 27, 2022, and was co-hosted by the Center for Health Humanities, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; the Center for Literature and Medicine, Hiram College; and the Health, Medicine, and Society Program, Lehigh University.

The theme of the conference was “Spaces of/for Health Humanities”, which explored what are the spaces of and for the health humanities? The COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered our experience of space, from the isolated spaces of quarantine to the overburdened spaces of the health care system, from the physical spaces where risk is produced and mitigated to the virtual spaces constituted by digital technologies. Travel bans, lockdowns, and vaccine and mask mandates have animated debates about whether, how, and whose bodies may inhabit public space, while demographic data renders apparent the uneven and inequitable distribution of resources and risk. How are the health humanities grappling with questions of spatiality, and how can we create accessible and equitable spaces—both literal and metaphorical—for engagement moving forward?