EVENT: UCI will mark the launch of the newly formed Center for Medical Humanities, a formal partnership among the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the School of Humanities and the School of Medicine to fortify a model of healthcare organized around the individual, reflective of cultural identities and responsive to the needs of the community. The 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein will provide the backdrop for this unique event.

WHEN/WHERE: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Humanities Gateway 1030 (bldg. 611, grid E7 on campus map: https://communications.uci.edu/documents/pdf/UCI_16_map_campus_core.pdf)

INFORMATION: Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Parking is available in the Mesa Parking Structure (grid C7 on campus map) for $10 per day or $2 per hour. Media planning to attend should contact Pat Harriman at 949-824-9055 or pharrima@uci.edu.

HIGHLIGHTS:
5:45 p.m. – Welcome by Douglas Haynes, director of the center, professor of history and vice provost for academic equity, diversity & inclusion

6-6:15 p.m. – Remarks by UCI deans Stephen Barker (Claire Trevor School of the Arts), Tyrus Miller (School of Humanities) and Michael J. Stamos (School of Medicine)

6:30-7:10 p.m. – Richard Brestoff, professor of drama, will read selections from Frankenstein; and Jayne Lewis, professor of English, will provide insights into the novel and its relationship to the medical humanities in the 21st century.

BACKGROUND: Formerly the UCI Medical Humanities Initiative, the UCI Center for Medical Humanities serves as a vibrant space in which scholars, the medical community and patients can explore and enact new meanings of health, healing and well-being. The center recently received a $225,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create a yearlong seminar called “Suffer Well.” Commencing in the fall of 2019, it will bring together scholars, artists and medical practitioners to examine human suffering. For more information about the UCI Center for Medical Humanities, visit http://medicalhumanities.uci.edu.