Medical Philosophy
I believe in the role of both reductionist and holistic approaches to human health - each paradigm opens portals to deep healing for the body, mind, and spirit. My own professional pursuits integrate reductionist and holistic approaches in the practice of caring for others.
I’ve been fascinated with mechanism for as long as I can remember. All forms of schooling taught me the reductionist way of understanding how things work: I learned to break down complex organisms into their organs and tissues, and those tissues into cells, and those cells into molecules, and those molecules into atoms, and those atoms into subatomic particles, and those subatomic particles into light.
Currents of holism did, however, run in the background of my formal education. In the third grade I was chosen to participate in the Peconic Bay Estuary Program, a young student leadership program designed to teach kids about the interrelatedness of humans, agriculture, and aquatic life. We were taught that ecosystems needed to be understood through relationships rather than the specific details of any single organism. The program culminated in a conference at Southampton College where students gathered to share their solutions for problems facing the estuaries, marshlands, and bays of Long Island. The impact of this program on my consciousness cannot be understated. I have continued to seek out community collaboration in addressing public health throughout my training, in college, medical school, through this very day.
While it has been rather straightforward for me to find ways to build community in addressing public health issues, I have had a much more difficult time in applying holistic understanding to the practice of medicine. Holistic science, and holistic medicine as its extension, has faced formal opposition for centuries. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to study in college with Dr. Scott Gilbert, PhD a visionary biologist who understands the necessity of holism in biological study and practice. He also imparted the gift of teaching that the words and language used to describe natural phenomenon carry meaning beyond the concept itself. This was my first real insight into the significance of archetypes and narrative exploration. He was able to demonstrate the interdependence of disease, gene regulation, symbiotic relationships, language, and the study of science as a way of knowing.
My research and community work with ethicist Dr. Kathleen Powderly, PhD further fueled my holistic passions. She entrusted me to help with her Narrative Medicine program at SUNY Downstate, a therapeutic and educational modality for interprofessional development in our hospital and clinics. Her own studies of human health, medical education, and narrative exploration primed me to see how important clinical encounters are beyond the content of the diagnosis and treatment, but as a therapeutic modality in and of itself.
In the health care system, where appointments are stressed to <15 min, there is very little room for genuinely therapeutic encounters, never mind challenging the philosophical underpinnings of our current medical paradigm. And yet, this is where my heart lies - in the moments where we can acknowledge the soul’s sufferings alongside its gifts. It’s in the time spent unlocking mysteries, finding patterns, making meaning, and holding space for inner knowing to stoke the fires of potential.
