Jefferson Humanities & Health

Monday, January 12, 5-6:30PM, JAH 207. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff

Join us for this important talk by Dr. Sal Mangione in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Join us for this important talk by Dr. Sal Mangione in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Eighty-one years after the liberation of Auschwitz the horror of the Shoah remains as haunting to mankind as ever, as indicated by countless books, documentaries, and monographs dedicated to the subject. Recent attention has gradually shifted away from “perpetrators” and focused instead on the “rescuers” – those few courageous souls who chose to risk their lives so that others could live. As the epitome of altruism for the betterment of mankind one would expect physicians to have been both rescuers and resisters during the Holocaust. Yet, German doctors were the most nazified profession in Hitler’s Reich, with every second male physician becoming a party member. In fact, many were perpetrators who not only provided “scientific” legitimization and manpower to domestic campaigns of sterilization and euthanasia, but who themselves participated in pseudo-scientific experiments on concentration camp prisoners. Hence, the need to revisit the topic.

Content Advisory: This presentation features photographs depicting graphic images of war and death.

Speaker:

SALVATORE MANGIONE, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the SKMC of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he also directs the Humanities and History of Medicine courses. He is a clinician-educator with a long interest in physical diagnosis, medical history, community service and the role of the humanities in medicine. His innovative programs and engaging teaching style have been recognized by multiple teaching awards, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, CNN, NPR, and Forbes. Dr. Mangione has also been involved in asthma education, creating (and directing for six years) The AsthmaBUS™, a red doubledecker he bought in London in 1999, shipped to Philadelphia, and eventually outfitted so to provide asthma education and screening for 15,000 middle-school children. For this he received the 2001 American Institute of Architects Award for most innovative exhibit, the 2003 World Asthma Day community service award from Philadelphia, and the 2004 Governors Community Service Award by the Chest Foundation of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Mangione has been an invited speaker at many national and international meetings, especially in regard to the use of visual arts for the teaching of observation. He's the author of the book Secrets in Physical Diagnosis and the recipient of the 2022 Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award of the American College of Physicians for Scholarly Activities in History of Medicine and the Humanities.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Monday, January 12, 6:30-8PM, JAH 207. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Join us for this lecture by Dr. Sal Mangione on a doctor's responsibilities and professional identity.

We live in times when physicians seem to have been debased to 'providers of medical services’, with patients being in turn reduced to ‘consumers’. Such debasement of the sacred patient-physician relationship has robbed us of a rich tradition that for centuries made medicine the profession of eclectic individuals capable of contributing to society through much more than stethoscopes and scalpels. Hence, this presentation will prompt reflection on "doctoring" and its responsibilities -- issues that have been rendered even more timely by the coronavirus pandemic. It's therefore a talk on professional identity, prompted in part by the ongoing debate about what it means being a 'Doctor' or, at least, what it ought to mean. This debate was started by the September 2019 Op-Ed piece published by Dr. Goldfarb in the Wall Street Journal (“Take Two Aspirin and Call Me by My Pronouns”), which eventually led to a ‘perspective’ Dr. Mangione published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 22, 2021.

Speaker:

SALVATORE MANGIONE, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the SKMC of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he also directs the Humanities and History of Medicine courses. He is a clinician-educator with a long interest in physical diagnosis, medical history, community service and the role of the humanities in medicine. His innovative programs and engaging teaching style have been recognized by multiple teaching awards, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, CNN, NPR, and Forbes. Dr. Mangione has also been involved in asthma education, creating (and directing for six years) The AsthmaBUS™, a red doubledecker he bought in London in 1999, shipped to Philadelphia, and eventually outfitted so to provide asthma education and screening for 15,000 middle-school children. For this he received the 2001 American Institute of Architects Award for most innovative exhibit, the 2003 World Asthma Day community service award from Philadelphia, and the 2004 Governors Community Service Award by the Chest Foundation of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Mangione has been an invited speaker at many national and international meetings, especially in regard to the use of visual arts for the teaching of observation. He's the author of the book Secrets in Physical Diagnosis and the recipient of the 2022 Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award of the American College of Physicians for Scholarly Activities in History of Medicine and the Humanities.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Tuesday, January 13, 12-1PM, Scott Memorial Library 200A. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Join us for a discussion of  the chapters “First Thoughts,” “Mixed Meats,” “Out of Ink,” and “Last Thoughts”from Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach.

In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. When and how does a person decide they’d be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina?

Copies of Replaceable You will be available for students after the discussion. 

Facilitator:

Katherine Hubbard, MA, Teaching Instructor, JeffMD Humanities Selectives, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas or the JMD 153 Asano Certificate courses on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in these Humanities & Health Canvas courses. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

About the Health Humanities Reading Group:

The Health Humanities Reading Group gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Tuesday, January 20, 5-6:30PM, Connelly Auditorium, Hamilton Building. Dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Third-year medical student Kishan Patel shares his cancer journey in this candid lecture and conversation event. Cancer isn’t something that starts and finishes, it’s something that you live with. My message is that patients are humans, too. Treating patients like humans will make them want to be treated and come back to see you. It will help build the patient-clinician relationship that we hear about in the curriculum but aren’t really taught how to encourage. Ever since I was diagnosed and went through cancer, I’ve had a more positive outlook in life. I hope that by sharing my perspective and experience, it will encourage others to have a more positive outlook, too, especially in professional/graduate school when life is already hard.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Thursday, January 22, 12-1PM, BLSB 107. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Join us for an interactive, one-hour session designed to make medical language and etymology fun, relevant, and memorable! 

You’ll start with a quick pre-quiz, enjoy a dynamic presentation led by Dr. Alexander Macnow, and then dive into small-group word-building and problem-solving activities. Wrap up with a post-quiz to see how your understanding has grown and leave with a new appreciation for the art and science of medical language.

Whether you love words, history, or medicine, this event offers a creative, engaging way to connect them all—don’t miss it!

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Saturday, January 24, 7:45AM - 12PM, Hamilton Building. Open to Jefferson students, breakfast provided.

We welcome you all to SKMC's 2026 GHHS Conference! This year’s GHHS theme is “Finding Your Calling: The Patient-Physician Connection in a Shifting Landscape.” With this theme, we are aiming to highlight how changes in medical practice, from technological advancements to cultural and political shifts, shape the way physicians interact with patients.

We are so excited to introduce this year's Keynote Speaker, Dr. Jessica Deffler! Dr. Deffler is the medical director of the Hansjorg Wyss Wellness Center, a primary care clinic and community hub with a focus on newcomer health. The Wyss Center is a partner in the CDC Center of Excellence in Newcomer Health and Dr. Deffler works with the CDC team to create clinical guidance and education on refugee and immigrant medicine.

Our faculty Breakout Room Speakers: Dr. Greg Jaffe, a Family Medicine physician and founder of the Jefferson Family Medicine Addiction Clinic who is an expert in bringing primary care  to patients experiencing addiction; Dr. Heather McMahon, a Plastic Surgeon who specializes in complex reconstructive surgery and microsurgery;  Dr. Evan Nardone, a Hospitalist who specializes in the care of solid oncology patients and has received numerous awards and recognition for excellence in medical education; Dr. Jason Gonzalez, an Emergency Medicine physician with expertise in preventing burnout and caring for diverse populations;  and Dr. Mohsin Arsiwala and Dr. Darienne Madlala, resident physicians in Internal Medicine and OBGYN (respectively) passionate about resident and trainee wellbeing.

Student speakers include Kathryn Fulton (patient advocate with updates on policy changes in Kensington) Kevin Carolina (founder of SKMC's Black Men in White Coats chapter) and Maura DePascal, Jordan Case, and MaryElena Sumerau (advocates for caring with patients with disability).

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event, but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Monday, January 26, 5-6:30PM, BLSB 107. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Research has shown that our relationships with ourselves, others, and nature have a profound impact on physical health and psychological well-being. In this in-person workshop, we will use the arts to explore ways of building and maintaining this all-important sense of connection.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and art therapist Sondra Rosenberg. A light dinner will be served.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

Wednesday, January 28, 12-1PM, Online

The Schwartz Rounds program provides a regular open forum for a multidisciplinary discussion of the psychosocial and emotional aspects of working in healthcare. Each session is organized around a compelling theme or patient story, and includes both clinical and nonclinical panelists and participants.

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Wednesday, January 28, 5-6:30PM, BLSB 101. Refreshments provided. Open to all. 

Join us for a panel with Thomas Jefferson University faculty members on how they understand trust through the lens of their areas of expertise and disciplines. How has trust played a role in their practices and collaborations? What have been the rewards and challenges of building trust and working with communities and other collaborators? What roles do power dynamics, institutional accountability and expectations, Artificial Intelligence, and shared vulnerability play in establishing and maintaining trust? And how do faculty pass these values on to students as they prepare them to be the professionals and leaders of tomorrow?

Panelists:

Dan Cronin, Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric, College of Humanities & Sciences

Kimberlee Douglas, RLA, ASLA, Director and Professor, Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and the Built Environment

Monica Medina-McCurdy, MHS, PA-C, Assistant Professor, College of Health Professions

Beth Shirrell, MFA, Associate Professor and Program Director, Visual Communication Design, Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce

Tiffany Tavarez, Vice President, Community Impact and Strategic Partnerships, Office of Community Impact and Belonging (CIB), Jefferson

During 2025-2026, the Jefferson Humanities Forum hosts multidisciplinary scholars and thinkers to investigate the theme of Trust.

Co-presented by Jefferson Humanities & Health, the Philadelphia University Honors Institute at Thomas Jefferson University and the College of Humanities & Sciences.

For more information, email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, Student Affairs.

Thursday, January 29, 12-1PM, Scott Memorial Library Room 200A. Open to Jefferson students. Lunch provided.

Join the Health Humanities Reading Group for a discussion of chapter 2, ("Breast Cancer: A Black Lesbian Feminist Experience") or chapter 3 ("Breast Cancer: Power vs Prosthesis) from Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals. Participants can choose to read either or both of the chapters.

Published over forty years ago, this is a powerful account of Audre Lorde's experience with breast cancer and a masectomy. Lorde questions the rules of conformity for women's body images and supported the need to confront physical loss bit hidden by prosthesis. The Cancer Journals presents Lorde healing and reenvisioning herself on her own terms while offering her voice, grief, resistance and courage to those dealing with their own diagnosis.

Special guest discussant: Ana Mari­a Lopez, MD, MPH, MACP, Professor and Vice Chair, Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Chief of Cancer Services, Jefferson Health New Jersey, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.

Copies of The Cancer Journals will be provided at the session. 

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas or the JMD 153 Asano Certificate courses on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in these Humanities & Health Canvas courses. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

About HHRG

The Health Humanities Reading Group (HHRG) gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Tuesday, February 3, 12-1PM, Jefferson Alumni Hall Eakins Lounge. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff.

Described as “bright” and “stylish” by Opera News, American soprano Sarah Fleiss joins the exclusive international Baroque touring ensemble, Le Jardin des Voix of Les Arts Florissants for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 season productions, where she performs in Les arts florissants and La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers by Charpentier under William Christie and in Il giardino di rose by Scarlatti under Paul Agnew. She also tours Latin America with Curtis on Tour during the 2025–26 season and performs solo recitals in the U.S. In Summer 2025, she attended the Georg Solti Bel Canto Accademia in Tuscany. During the 2024–25 season, Sarah performed the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro under the baton of Nicholas McGegan with Curtis Opera Theatre, the soprano soloist role in Handel’s Messiah with Hudson Baroque and the soprano soloist role in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Dalton Chorale in New York City. Previous role highlights include the title role in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante, and was a featured soloist in a staged production of Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. In concert, she performed as the soprano soloist in the Fauré Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Poulenc’s Gloria and Dvořák’s Te Deum with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, Sarah was a Renée Fleming Arist at the Aspen Music Festival, covering Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro under conductor Nicholas McGegan. Sarah is the 2025 winner of the Arthur W. Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association.

Sarah completed her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees at Curtis Institute of Music. Prior to Curtis, Sarah attended Columbia University and its Juilliard exchange program.

The Humanities Concert Series is made possible through a generous gift from Deborah L. August, MD, MPH, and Robert H. Rosenwasser, MD, FACS, FAHA

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Thursday, February 5, 12-1PM, Ham 224/225. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff. 

We all have a soundtrack that marks the many chapters of our lives. Teaching artist Josh Robinson will facilitate a reflection through your musical past, your stories, and the role music has played throughout your life. The workshop uses music as a vehicle to help participants connect to others and reconnect to themselves. Participants will be guided to reflect on the meaning of various songs in their lives and how music has helped them through both positive and negative experiences.

About the facilitator

Josh Robinson is a professional percussionist, teaching artist, and drum facilitator. He has been a visiting instructor in the Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University for the past four years and is in his second year as the Humanities artist-in-residence. For the past 19 years, Josh has used his skills, expertise, and life experience to share drumming and the many gifts it brings with thousands of people each year around the country.

Students who attended the Soundtrack to Your Life session on October 23 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session towards Asano.

Monday, February 9, 12-1PM, Jefferson Alumni Hall Eakins Lounge. Lunch and refreshments provided while supplies last. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Join us for a Humanities Concert with Shuishan Yu, PhD, a fourth generation Mei’an School guqin player and a professor in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University and Bin Wu, MA, tea scholar, contemplative arts practitioner, and Director of the Office of Campus and Community Engagement, Thomas Jefferson University.

Listening to Silence explores the restorative dimensions of traditional Chinese arts and culture and their continued relevance in contemporary life. Centered on the ancient Guqin—a zither with over 3,000 years of history—and the contemplative tea ceremony, this program offers an immersive experience in stillness, attention, and harmony. In a world of speed and noise, the Guqin teaches stillness and breath; in a world of fragmentation, the tea ceremony cultivates mindfulness and care. Together, they guide us toward reconnection—with ourselves, with others, and with the natural world—illuminating the enduring relationship between art, health, and humanities.

Co-presented by Jefferson Humanities & Health and the Office of Campus and Community Engagement, Thomas Jefferson University.

The Humanities Concert Series is made possible through a generous gift from Deborah L. August, MD, MPH, and Robert H. Rosenwasser, MD, FACS, FAHA

Lunch will be available at approximately 12:40PM after the performance and during the tea ceremony. Traditional Chinese snacks and desserts provided by Ms. Wuyi Yan will be available at the start of the event.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator

Monday, February 9, 5-6:30PM, Ham 210/211. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students.

It’s so easy to feel off-balance - to feel torn between polarities of work-rest, doing-being, dark-light, joy-sorrow…and to be knocked off-center by unexpected events or changes. In this workshop we will explore and engage in creative practices that promote an awareness of what balance/imbalance feels, sounds and looks like, and what helps us restore and return to a sense of balance.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and art therapist Sondra Rosenberg.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is in-person and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

Wednesday, February 11, 12-1PM, JAH 407. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Join Dr. Salvatore Mangione for a presentation on the White Rose, a Nazi Resistance Group made up of German medical students and faculty.

What are the social responsibilities of doctors and health care professionals? Join us for a conversation with Dr. Salvatore Mangione, physician, faculty member, and researcher on the White Rose Resistance Group. The White Rose was a Nazi Resistance Group made up of German medical students and faculty who had an expansive view of what it means to be a doctor. From 1942-1943, the group spoke out and distributed leaflets against Hitler and the atrocities the Nazi government and army committed. Most members of the White Rose were captured and executed. But, as they wrote in one of their leaflets, “We will not be silent," and their courage and legacy are remembered today.

Presenter:

SALVATORE MANGIONE, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the SKMC of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he also directs the Humanities and History of Medicine courses.

Questions? Email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Thursday, February 12, 12-1PM, Hamilton 208/209. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Everyone needs some down time but not the guilt that comes when we think we are not being productive. Why not relax and be productive by joining us for some yarn work? Spend some time with Dr. Elizabeth Spudich, Dr. Abigail Kay and Dr. Jenna Hagerty learning how to knit or crochet; or if you are already skilled come and share your talent.

Each student will get a kit including yarn, hooks or needles (depending on your chosen craft), some basic patterns, and other surprises!

Students will work on creating scarves that they can keep for themselves, gift to a loved one, or donate to JeffHope.

Facilitators:

Dr. Jenna Hagerty, Assistant Professor, Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dr. Abigail Kay, MA, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs & Undergraduate Medical Education, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Dr. Elizabeth Spudich, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chief, Anatomy Education Division, Department of Medical Education, JeffMD Anatomy Thread Director, JeffMD Cardiopulmonary Block Co-Director, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Questions? Please contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, Office of Student Affairs.

Wednesday, February 25, 12-1PM, Online

The Schwartz Rounds program provides a regular open forum for a multidisciplinary discussion of the psychosocial and emotional aspects of working in healthcare. Each session is organized around a compelling theme or patient story, and includes both clinical and nonclinical panelists and participants.

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Monday, March 2, 12-1PM, JAH 207. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

What makes the ideal physician is something we all grapple with since the very first day of medical school. Renowned ethicist Edmund Pellegrino tried to answer that question in a JAMA article of 50 years ago, where he boiled it down to three C’s: Competence, Compassion, and Culture. We all agree with competence and compassion, but what about culture? That rubric comprises seven personal qualities that are fundamental for the physician's ability to unleash the self-healing energies of the patient, and they are: 1) Attentive (active) listening; 2) Eye contact; 3) Compassionate touch; 4) Empathy; 5) Comfort with ambiguity; 6) Humor (especially of the self-deprecating kind, since not only it lifts others but also prevents narcissism); and 7) A philosophy of life that by bordering on stoicism can provide resilience. Hence, this presentation will review these interpersonal traits, which are often considered 'fluff' by some physicians, while in reality they are the intangibles that make all the difference.

Presenter:

SALVATORE MANGIONE, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the SKMC of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he also directs the Humanities and History of Medicine courses.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Tuesday, March 3, 12-1PM, Ham 505. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

A microaggression is an unintentional and unconscious action that can negatively affect our day-to-day human interactions. They cause real harm to individuals. There is a large amount of evidence that it can be a major factor in the creation of disparities in the healthcare environment that can ultimately lead to patient-care disparities.

In this session, we will define microaggressions, its documented effects in medicine, the concept of silent collusion, and the steps one can take to disarm the effects of microaggression.

At the end of the session, the attendees will be able to

• Define microaggressions.

• Give two examples of how microaggressions affect the patient care environment.

• Define “silent collusion.”

• Name at least three techniques to address a witnessed microaggression.

Facilitator: Bernard L. Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University.

Students who attended the session on October 6, 2025 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session for Asano credit.

Friday, March 6, 12-1PM, Ham 208/209. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Join us for a discussion of an excerpt from Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's Open AI by Karen Hao.

When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces. What could go wrong?

Over time, Hao began to wrestle ever more deeply with that question. Increasingly, she realized that the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that its vision of success requires an almost unprecedented amount of resources: the “compute” power of high-end chips and the processing capacity to create massive large language models, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans “cleaning up” that data for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the usage of energy and water underlying it all. The truth is that we have entered a new and ominous age of empire: only a small handful of globally scaled companies can even enter the field of play. At the head of the pack with its ChatGPT breakthrough, how would OpenAI resist such temptations?

Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

By drawing on the viewpoints of Silicon Valley engineers, Kenyan data laborers, and Chilean water activists, Hao presents the fullest picture of AI and its impact we’ve seen to date, alongside a trenchant analysis of where things are headed.

Participants will be notified when the reading becomes available. Copies of Empire of AI will be available for students after the discussion. 

Facilitators:

Jim Dyksen, MA, MSEd, Director, Center for Academic Success

Shawn Gonzalez, PhD, Assistant Director for Writing Services, Office of Academic & Career Success

Chris Miciek, MA, Director, Center for Career Success

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas or the JMD 153 or the JMD 252 Asano Certificate courses on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in these Humanities & Health Canvas courses. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

About the Health Humanities Reading Group:

The Health Humanities Reading Group gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Monday, March 9, 5-6PM, Zoom. Open to Jefferson students.

In this virtual, art-based workshop, participants will engage in a variety of practices designed to reduce stress. Learn how to identify the physical and emotional symptoms of stress and how to move through them to a more grounded and relaxed state. Facilitated by art therapist Sondra Rosenberg.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is virtual and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

Tuesday, March 10, Connelly Auditorium, Hamilton Building and Online. 12-1PM. Lunch provided. Open to all.

In this time of technological and political upheaval, we must re-evaluate the way that we talk about and embrace AI—especially generative models like ChatGPT, and Artificial General Intelligence. Many of the ways that society could benefit from AI—better education and healthcare, a faster transition to renewables, clean air and clean water—have nothing to do with AI models today; they are based on the machine-learning models that have come before. But Silicon Valley, with OpenAI at its helm, has woven a remarkably compelling narrative about generative AI and Artificial General Intelligence being the key to progress and abundance. This narrative cloaks what’s happening beneath the surface, says Karen Hao. In this timely talk, drawing on years of original research, she examines a growing body of evidence to ask whether AI will ever produce broad-based economic benefit. Companies like OpenAI have become empires in the full sense of the word, consolidating extraordinary power and wealth in the hands of the few. In this historic moment, she shows us, the threat of the empires of AI grows clearer by the day. A return to empire is the unraveling of democracy. But there is another viable path. Karen offers an ultimately realistic and hopeful look at how to wrestle back what we’ve already lost, in order to create a world we all want.

Called “one of the foremost tech journalists covering AI” by Dr. Joy Buolamwini, Karen Hao writes for publications like The Atlantic and leads the Pulitzer Center’s AI Spotlight Series, which trains journalists around the world on how to cover artificial intelligence.

In Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI (Penguin Press, 2025), Karen, the first journalist to ever profile OpenAI, tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a cadre of the most powerful companies in human history is reshaping the world in its image. “Excellent and deeply reported” (The New York Times), Empire of AI is an “essential work of public education” (Zuboff), “a bestselling page-turner that has made waves not just in Silicon Valley but around the world” (TIME), and a revelatory portrait of the people controlling this technology. It is the jaw-dropping story of ambition and ego, hype and speculation, plunder and destruction, politics and labor, and, of course, money and power—a brilliant and deeply necessary look at the industry defining our era, and what the future holds.

Karen was formerly a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering American and Chinese tech companies, and a senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review. Her work has been cited by Congress, featured in university curriculums, and remade into museum exhibits. She has won numerous accolades, including an American Humanist Media Award and a National Magazine Award for Journalists Under 30. Karen also sits on the AI advisory board of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Prior to journalism, she was an application engineer at the first startup to spin out of Google, and she received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and minor in energy studies from MIT.

About the Carlin Foundation Annual Lecture on Healthcare Innovation

The purpose of the Carlin Foundation Annual Lecture on Healthcare Innovation is to stimulate innovation in medicine and medical care delivery by exposing students and other attendees to notable speakers and ideas. The Foundation encourages the selection of speakers who will challenge participants to think creatively and innovatively about the difficulties and opportunities facing healthcare, looking, in particular, to experts and industries outside of healthcare.

During 2025-2026, the Jefferson Humanities Forum hosts multidisciplinary scholars and thinkers to investigate the theme of Trust.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, Student Affairs.

Tuesday, March 10, 1:30-2:30PM, Ham 208/209. Light refreshments provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Following her Jefferson Humanities Forum keynote, join us for a small group discussion with journalist Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI.

Called “one of the foremost tech journalists covering AI” by Dr. Joy Buolamwini, Karen Hao writes for publications like The Atlantic and leads the Pulitzer Center’s AI Spotlight Series, which trains journalists around the world on how to cover artificial intelligence.

In Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI (Penguin Press, 2025), Karen, the first journalist to ever profile OpenAI, tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a cadre of the most powerful companies in human history is reshaping the world in its image.

Karen was formerly a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering American and Chinese tech companies, and a senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review. Her work has been cited by Congress, featured in university curriculums, and remade into museum exhibits. She has won numerous accolades, including an American Humanist Media Award and a National Magazine Award for Journalists Under 30. Karen also sits on the AI advisory board of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Prior to journalism, she was an application engineer at the first startup to spin out of Google, and she received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and minor in energy studies from MIT.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator. 

Thursday, March 12, 12-1PM, JAH 207. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

In this Anti-Racism in Health Focus introduction to the history of racism in medicine, participants will learn to

• Define the concept of race
• Define the institution of racism and its many forms including structural racism
• List 3 specific examples of racism in medicine
• Explain race-based medicine and describe examples of how it contributes to structural racism

Facilitator: Bernard L. Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Tuesday, March 17, 12-1PM, Scott Memorial Library 200A. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Join the Health Humanities Reading Group for a discussion of the New England Journal of Medicine perspective roundtable, Pursuing Health Equity in the United States with Crystal W. Cené, M.D., M.P.H., David A. Ansell, M.D., M.P.H., Merlin Chowkwanyun, M.P.H., Ph.D., and Lisa A.Cooper, M.D., M.P.H.

This Perspective Roundtable explores the current state of health inequities and the kinds of work that is being done to eliminate them, the effects of these efforts on medicine and health care, and what the tools and strategies and pathways are for us to reduce inequities in health and health care.

Access the roundtable here.

Viewing time: 59 min and 19s

Special guest discussant: Ana Mari­a Lopez, MD, MPH, MACP, Professor and Vice Chair, Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Chief of Cancer Services, Jefferson Health New Jersey, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.

About HHRG

The Health Humanities Reading Group (HHRG) gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Wednesday, March 25, 12-1PM, Zoom

The Schwartz Rounds program provides a regular open forum for a multidisciplinary discussion of the psychosocial and emotional aspects of working in healthcare. Each session is organized around a compelling theme or patient story, and includes both clinical and nonclinical panelists and participants.

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Monday, March 30, 5-6PM, Online. Open to Jefferson students.

In order to effectively care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This virtual workshop will introduce you to a variety of music-based experiences designed to promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is virtual and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)