Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to fund yearlong series exploring human suffering

The newly formed UCI Center for Medical Humanities – a formal partnership among the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the School of Humanities and the School of Medicine – has received a $225,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create a yearlong series called “Suffer Well” that will offer lectures, symposia and presentations from invited speakers. Commencing in fall 2019, scholars, artists and medical practitioners will come together to explore human suffering in its various forms. “We are deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for its support,” said James Kyung-Jin Lee, UCI associate professor of Asian American studies and principal investigator for the grant. “We believe that a multidisciplinary approach and conversation on suffering – ranging from its medicalization to its literary representation – can lead us to rethink the relationship between the subjective experience of one person’s suffering to suffering on larger scales, from households to communities. We look forward to the dialogue and action that will result from this grant.” The center is administered by the School of Humanities and directed by history professor Douglas Haynes, vice provost for academic equity, diversity & inclusion.