Dr Trevor Stammers to Host Research Seminar

Dr Trevor Stammers, Programme Director in Bioethics and Medical Law at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, will host a free research seminar on 8^th December titled “Allusions of Healing? Poetry in Teaching”. The seminar will explore Walt Whitman’s first published and most famous work, Leaves of Grass. Dr Stammers will aim to illustrate ways in which Whitman’s poems, as well as others, can speak to us about the meaning of compassion. Though there is now plenty of film and literature for teaching bioethics and medicine, the potential for the use of poetry in the field is still underexplored in research and in the curriculum according to Dr Stammers. During the seminar he will examine the use of poetry in biomedical education, look at its role in Oxford University’s "Compassion In Healthcare" project and give attendees the opportunity to experience poetry used in healthcare education settings such as Walt Whitman's The Wound Dresser. Dr Stammers has been Programme Director in Bioethics and Medical law at St Mary’s since 2010 and also teaches bioethics, philosophy of health, and issues in science and religion for the BA Philosophy programme. Furthermore, he is a writer and occasional broadcaster on bioethical issues. Speaking of the seminar he said, "Every other week it seems that a new crisis relating to 'lack of care' is highlighted in the press. “I am currently working on a project with the Radcliffe Humanities department at Oxford University and the Royal Society of Medicine to explore how the humanities might be able to help healthcare workers to be more compassionate. I think that poetry is a useful medium in this regard which is currently much underestimated." The public seminar will take place on 8^th December at 1.30pm in room G2. For more information, email trevor.stammers@stmarys.ac.uk.