13 September 2006
Humanism?
But Is It Medicine?
Eric J. Cassell, M.D., MACP, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
Humanism is sometimes viewed--even by physicians--as part of the "art" of medicine or good bedside manner but not as the core of doctoring. A master physician draws on a lifetime of reading, writing and patient care to make the case for humanistic medicine as the only medicine worth practicing.
Co-presented with the Gold Humanism Honor Society
Eric J. Cassell, M.D., MACP, retired from private practice in 1998 and now sees patients in consultation. He is an attending physician at The New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and a Clinical Professor of Public Health at Weil Medical College of Cornell University. He also teaches Pain Fellows at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A frequent guest lecturer and teacher throughout the world speaking about medical education, the care of sick patients, the dying patient and, especially, suffering, he is the author of numerous books and articles about moral problems in medicine, medical practice, the care of chronically ill and dying, and the nature of suffering.
Dr. Cassell received his B.A. from Queens College in 1950 and his M.A. from Columbia University also in 1950. He received his M.D. from New York University College of Medicine, from which he received the Solomon A. Berson Medical Alumnus Achievement Award in 2000. He was a U.S. Public Health Service Fellow in infectious disease in the Department of Public Health of Cornell University Medical University serving under Dr. Walsh McDermott and Dr. Rene Dubos. In 1961 he began extensive research and writing on the health effects of air pollution well before the subject was of popular interest. He has been on the faculty of New York University School of Medicine and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Dr. Cassell is a Fellow and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hastings Center. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Master of the American College of Physicians. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the President's Bioethics Advisory Commission.