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22 September 2015

Philosophy & Medicine project launches

King's College London – home to the largest centre for healthcare education in Europe – has launched Philosophy & Medicine, a joint venture between King's Department of Philosophy, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, and Florence Nightingale School of Nursing, with the generous support of the Peter Sowerby Foundation.

With the generous support of the Peter Sowerby Foundation, King’s College London has launched Philosophy & Medicine, a joint venture between King’s Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, and Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, whereby courses of study in philosophy will be introduced into the curricula that train clinicians.

Additionally, King’s will host a range of public lectures and activities to encourage dialogue and collaborative research across these disciplines.

The Department of Philosophy hosts Professor Sherrilyn Roush, the Peter Sowerby Chair in Philosophy & Medicine. Professor Roush is developing connections between medicine and her ground-breaking contributions in central areas of philosophy, notably philosophy of science and epistemology.

David Aspinall, Chair of the Trustees of the Peter Sowerby Foundation, said: 'Medics and philosophers confront many of the same great issues—life and death, body and mind, knowledge and judgement—but too rarely engage with each other.' 

‘Since his training at King’s and Guy’s in the 1950s and throughout his career, Dr Peter Sowerby has wanted to see practitioners better equipped to engage with such vital issues in the course of delivering patient care. We are delighted that today the Peter Sowerby Chair in Philosophy and Medicine takes forward an extensive programme of thought-provoking activities across King's. The Trustees hope that the next generation of health professionals will engage in philosophical debate and thereby enrich their understanding of patient care and technological advancement.’

The King’s Colloquium in Philosophy and Medicine will begin on 1 October with a public lecture by David Beard, Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences, Oxford, who will speak on Placebo-controlled Surgical Trials.

For further details on the Philosophy & Medicine programming, please visit philosophyandmedicine.org