The Institute for the Medical Humanities at UTMB has won the prestigious Cornerstone Award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.
The Cornerstone Award recognizes outstanding contributions that have helped shape the direction of the fields of bioethics and the medical humanities.
“We are immensely honored,” said Dr. Howard Brody, director of the institute. “And I am so proud of our faculty whose dedication and resolve are unparalleled. This award recognizes the influence that our center has had on the fields of medical humanities and bioethics since it was founded in 1973.”
The Cornerstone Award has been awarded twice before — to the Hastings Center in upstate New York and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.
“This is a tremendous recognition,” said Dr. Cary Cooper, interim Provost and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the medical branch. “This is an absolute testament to the great work that the institute does at UTMB and for the nation.”
The national society fosters scholarship, research, teaching and the development of policies for people involved in clinical and academic bioethics and the medical humanities.
The Institute for the Medical Humanities at UTMB is an interdisciplinary group studying and teaching history of medicine, bioethics, literature and medicine, religion and health, visual arts in medicine, social medicine and health law and policy. The institute awards the only Ph.D. in the United States in interdisciplinary medical humanities. It is responsible for teaching medical students about humanities, ethics and professionalism and provides ethics consultation for both clinicians and research investigators.
The award will be presented at the annual meeting of national society in Washington, D.C. in October.