Bookmark and Share

Friday, April 24, 2009

I met the first female Navajo surgeon


Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D. presented "The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: Combining Western Medicine and Traditional Navajo Ceremonies to Create Healing Environments" at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on April 13. More information on the event is at this site:
http://app1.unmc.edu/publicaffairs/newsarchive/view_art.cfm?article_id=1874. Dr. Alvord is a member of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NACCAM) http://nccam.nih.gov/about/naccam/roster.htm. She is Assistant Professor of Surgery and Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School. (She is the person in the lower left side of the photo.)

Her presentation really spoke to my heart. It was wonderful to see the images she projected and hear her stories - I haven't had that sort of experience since the Cancer Bloggers Reunion last summer in Seattle.

I attended the event with two great librarians (Nebraska has the best!): Siobhan Champ-Blackwell (lower right), and Marty Magee (upper left), both National Network of Library of Medicine outreach librarians for the National Library of Medicine. (I used to be one - I recommend the job to anyone interested in being on the cutting edge of librarianship!). Dr. Alvord has a connection to the National Library of Medicine - her biography is included in a great website and traveling exhibit: Changing the Face of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_7.html. She graciously agreed to posing for a picture with the three of us. Thank you again, Dr. Alvord!

1 comment:

Jeanne said...

Teri--this is wonderful. Thanks for the post and the phoo. That's mind-boggling to me, that she is the first ever Navajo woman to become a surgeon. But cool that she is combining traditional and Western practices.

 
Who links to my website?