Center for Bioethics and Humanities - University of Colorado Denver

Center for
Bioethics and
Humanities
Inside this issue:
Advisory Board Profile:
Fred & Alice Abrams
Ernst Neizvestny
Exhibition by
Simon Zalkind, Curator
Clinical Ethics:
Is Grieving a Disease?
by Jean Abbott, MD
Publications,
Presentations, etc.
What Are You Reading?
Coming to the Gallery
2
3
3
4
5
5
Upcoming Events 6
Our New Home: The Fulginiti Pavilion Fall 2012 Newsletter
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical
Campus celebrated the opening of the
Fulginiti Pavilion for Bioethics and Humanities
on August 27th. The Pavilion features an inthe-round
auditorium that seats 130, an art
gallery, a concert grand piano in the lobby,
and faculty and staff offices for the Center
for Bioethics and Humanities and Interprofessional
Education.
Speaking at the dedication ceremony, University
Chancellor Don Elliman said, “This building
is designed and dedicated to bridge the cultural
divide between science and art, and to
explore the most essential questions about
human experience, who we are, and how we
care for one another.”
The mission of the Center is to explore moral
issues in healthcare and to educate students
and professionals about identifying and addressing
ethical questions. Having a specially
designed facility to engage in open and respectful
dialogue around ethical challenges in
clinical, research and community policy is
unique.
The building is named for Dr. Vincent Fulginiti,
From the Director… Dori Biester, PhD
Chancellor Emeritus of the CU Health Sciences
Center and his wife, Shirley. “There are larger
issues involved in the art of medicine than
just the science of medicine. Practitioners also
need to understand the holistic side of medicine,
the ethical issues,” explains Dr. Fulginiti.
Situated at the north end of Boettcher
Commons, the bright glass lobby, maple
paneling and grand piano make the Fulginiti a
welcoming gathering place for students, staff
and faculty from all programs. “I think of this
space as the cultural heart and soul of the
campus,” said Therese Jones, Director of the
Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program for
the Center for Bioethics and Humanities.
Vincent Fulginiti visits with friends at the building dedication
Our fall newsletter has a new look. We hope you will find it easy to navigate
to the articles that are of most interest to you. Many thanks to Linda McCabe
for her efforts in managing our newsletter over the past several issues. While
this issue has a different format, you will find the contents are very similar to
our previous issues.
I am pleased to let you know that Therese Jones PhD has agreed to be the
newsletter editor, working closely with David Weil as the managing editor. David also has
responsibility for keeping our website up to date, and we benefit from his photography and
design skills.
We have been in the Fulginiti Pavilion for over a month and are very happy with our new home.
Our colleagues from Interdisciplinary Professional Education are also in the process of settling into
their offices. Continued on P.2

Page 2
Advisory Board Profile: Fred and Alice Abrams
Fred and Alice Abrams met
at summer camp in New
York, 62 years ago. She
was a high school senior
studying music and art, and
he was a senior pre-med at
Cornell. They fell in love,
married, and built their family
and careers. They have
three sons. Alice is an
award-winning goldsmith,
involved in numerous art and
cultural organizations. Fred
practiced as an obstetrician/
gynecologist, and when he
started his clinical career,
physicians and other practitioners
were uncomfortable
talking about ethics. Although
everyone claimed that
he or she was “ethical” and
didn‟t need training to act
right, there were no forums
to discuss the moral, clinical
and social dilemmas in
healthcare.
In the late 1970s, after being
inspired by a presentation
given by Mary Walter,
a nun from St. Joseph‟s hos-
pital, Fred began teaching
ethics courses at Rose Hospital.
The bioethics programs
he established drew hundreds
of attendees from
across America, Mexico and
Canada. He then founded
the Center for Applied Biomedical
Ethics at Rose Medical
Center in 1983, which
became the first center for
the study of ethical issues in
a hospital setting in the U.S.
Alice served as Chair of the
Art Committee at Rose. She
witnessed the stress of medical
practice, the continual
worries and pressures on
physicians every day. Filling
the soul with music, art, writing
and dance helps balance
and bridge the human elements
that go along with
disease. She‟s seen a shift in
how students are trained
today, compared to when
Fred was a medical student.
“That‟s what the Center‟s
work is doing. Students are
now being trained in both
From the Director… continued.
science and humanity,” she
explains.
The building is warm and inviting, the Gossard Forum is busy with multiple bookings and the concert
grand piano (a gift from the Rockley Family Foundation) is frequently played by skilled
artists. If you have talent for playing the piano, you are invited to stop by the Foyer, sit down at
the Seiler and allow us to enjoy your music….the theme from the Titanic is being played as I write
this column. Wonderful.
I invite you to stop by to see the Pavilion and also visit the Art Gallery. See page 3 for a description
of our current exhibit.
Although we have not yet completed the search for the Center Director, the process is active, and
we have a candidate who will be returning for a second visit in November.
Center for Bioethics and Humanities-Fall, 2012
When Fred retired from
practice he wrote a book,
Doctors on the Edge, in
which he shares the challenges
that he and his
patients faced. He encourages
practitioners to
deviate from convention,
in the interest of their patients
or community welfare.
“When doctors take
the time to sit at the bedside,
particularly with end
of life people, it‟s astonishing
what people tell. Every individual has their story,” Abrams
remarked. He was instrumental in writing legislation amending the
Colorado manslaughter law, which in effect legalized “terminal sedation,”
to relieve the suffering of patients in intractable pain.
The Abrams‟ efforts on the Community Advisory Board have spanned
decades. Alice explains, “As each generation continues to be part of
the Center, it will change. And it must change, because the culture
changes, needs change, certain things have been fulfilled and others
come about because of what we do here. We have to be able in the
Center, to set up the circumstance where people are not just being
told, but people who are ready to listen. And how do you find these
people? That‟s what the Advisory Board is all about. Finding people
who listen.”
Interview & Photo by David M. Weil

Center for Bioethics and Humanities-Fall, 2012
Art Gallery in the Fulginiti Pavilion
ONLY PERSIST: Works by Ernst Neizvestny
from the Collection of Wayne F. Yakes, MD
Page 3
The eloquence of Ernst Niezvestny‟s mature vision is inseparable from his experience
as an artist during the most repressive periods of the Soviet regime.
Those decades, when totalitarian ideologues sought to erase human presence
from human culture oriented Niezvestny to place, with great urgency, the body
at the center of his concern. Niezvestny‟s art seeks to restore to the embodied
self the potential to manifest freedom. How we see the body mediates and
conditions every aspect of how we lead an embodied life.
Niezvestny is a singularly resolute figure, loyal to the “old-fashioned” mediums of painting and sculpture and to classic subjects such as
the human body and face. He creates art that seeks to integrate our conscious and unconscious processes and to translate the derelict
remains of the failed ideologies of the 20th century into living metaphors of human dignity and moral commitment.
The Center is most grateful to Dr. Wayne F. Yakes for the generous loan of this exhibit from his personal collection. This Neizvestny
exhibition runs through November 8th. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm. A beautifully printed exhibition
catalogue is available; contact Mary Lou Wallace at 303-724-3994 to request a copy.
Clinical Ethics Corner by Jean Abbott, MD
Is Grieving a Disease?
The University of Colorado Hospital Ethics Committee had a very lively debate at a recent meeting,
triggered by an editorial essay by Dr. Richard Friedman (Friedman RA. Grief, depression, and the DMS-5.
New Eng J Med 2012; 366: 1855-7.) Friedman and others have written about the upcoming proposed
changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), the “Bible” of diagnosis in
psychiatry. The proposed change would add grief to the list of pathologies under the broad category of
“depression.”
Some questions we grappled with:
- Is this an example of the medicalization of normal human experience?
- Is this driven by the pharmaceutical industry in an effort to expand indications for
anti-depressants?
- Is bereavement pathologic? always? sometimes?
Simon Zalkind, Exhibition Curator
Friedman‟s objection to the new designation is that grieving persons can exhibit mild depression and sadness but usually is selflimited.
There is such an entity as “complicated” grief, which lasts longer, is associated with cognitive disturbances and serious interference
with daily living. A history of major depression is associated with recurrence in the context of loss, and 10-20% of people
who are bereaved do have issues that might benefit from psychiatric care. But Friedman, as many of us on the Ethics Committee,
argues that there is an essential difference between grief-related depression and major depression. The comment period for this
proposed change is over, but the American Psychiatric Association website currently notes that, in response to many comments from
the public, they will clarify the criteria by which bereavement is not “normal” and should be considered a mental disorder.

Page 4
Center for Bioethics and Humanities-Fall, 2012
Appointments, Awards, Grants, Memberships, Presentations, Publications, etc.
Appointments:
Dayna Matthew was appointed as Professor in the School of Public Health, July 2012
Awards:
Dori Biester was recognized as an esteemed alumni of the CU College of Nursing Class of „94 at their September 2012 Annual
Awards luncheon.
Grants:
Dayna Matthew is the recipient of an IMPACT Grant for Research in Health Disparities to fund a pilot project to examine how provider
and patient implicit biases contribute to health disparities.
Memberships:
Jackie Glover and Tess Jones were both selected for membership in the Academy of Medical Educators. Members are chosen through
a competitive process based upon accomplishments in aspects of medical education including: direct teaching, advising, mentorship,
instructional development, curricular design, educational administration, leadership, educational scholarship and research. (September
2012)
Mary Lou Wallace successfully completed coursework and attained accreditation as a Certified Government Meeting Professional,
September 2012.
Presentations:
Marilyn Coors was Chair of the Organizing Committee for the 3rd Annual Research Ethics Conference: “Sharing Health Data for Research:
How Much Should They Know about You and your Community?”
Jackie Glover presented “Ethical Issues in Assisted Reproduction” to the Colorado Bar Association, September 2012. She also
presented “Ethical Issues in Pediatrics” to the Boulder Community Hospital Ethics Committee, September 2012.
Tess Jones presented a Plenary, “Coming Home: The Returning Soldier in Literature and Film,” at the Family Medicine Review, CU
School of Medicine, June 2012. She also presented a paper, “Running the Risk: Studio Thinking in Medical Education,” at the Comics
and Medicine Conference, University of Toronto, July 2012.
Dayna Matthew presented “The Health Care Safety Net in a Post-Reform World,” and is author of a chapter in the newly released
book of the same name published by Rutgers University Press, at a roll-out event at George Washington University. She also
participated in a Colorado Women‟s Leadership Forum, an invitation only discussion convened by Senator Michael Bennet, to discuss
approaches to “Building A Better Health System While Reducing the National Debt” in October 2012. Finally Dayna was an invited
participant in the invitation only, “Implementing Affordable Insurance Exchanges Roundtable,” with 20 national and state level health
law and policy experts to create a white paper to guide insurance exchange implementation.
Publications:
Marilyn Coors co-authored “Reporting Actionable Research Results: Shared Secrets Can Save Lives” in Science Translational Research,
v.4 no. 141-44 (2012):18-21.
Tess Jones published “Reflections in/and Writing: Pedagogy and Practice in Medical Education,” in Academic Medicine, May 2012.
Tess Jones published “Minding the Gap(s): Liminality and Narrativity in Medical Student Writing,” in Literature and Medicine, Spring
2012.

Center for Bioethics and Humanities-Fall, 2012
What Are You Reading?
Suggested literature from Therese Jones, PhD
The short story, “The Doctor” by Andre Dubus, was first published in The New Yorker on April 26, 1969
and later collected in Separate Flights (1975). I first encountered it last summer in a seminar on literature
and medicine, and I will never forget the experience of hearing those two pages read aloud, paragraph
by paragraph, by a group of us sitting around a table.
The doctor in question is Art Castagnetto, an obstetrician out for a morning jog in early spring who encounters
a terrible accident: a young boy pinned by a concrete slab in the rushing water of a swollen
stream. He‟s “the doctor” whom all the neighbors know by name and by face, so they expect him to “do
something.”
Contact Tess Jones if you are interested in reading “The Doctor.”
COMING TO THE ART GALLERY: Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program
Our next art exhibit, AIDS Adagio, opens on Thursday, December 13 and runs until February 15.
The following description comes from curator, Simon Zalkind.
“Cheating Death” by Wes Kennedy, 1987
“Akedah” by Albert Winn, 1995
Page 5
Andre Dubus
“Since the mid-1980‟s photography has played a critical role in shaping public perception
of AIDS. AIDS Adagio presents the work of two artists, Albert Winn and Wes Kennedy –
one living, one deceased – whose work is about the experience of AIDS yet who respond in
very different ways to their condition. Kennedy‟s work is poetic, surreal and elegiac. Winn‟s
images are rooted in photo-documentary traditions that record, through very direct and
occasionally confrontational strategies, the daily, quotidian existence of a long-term AIDS
survivor “managing” his domestic and personal life in the midst of his exhausting medical
routines precarious life situation. Kennedy‟s art is suffused with a grotesque and traumatic
beauty. Winn‟s work reminds us that his illness does not represent the sum total of his life.
The pairing of these two artists makes clear that AIDS-related images are complex. They
can be sublimely gorgeous, domestically ordinary, or troubling, confrontational representations.”
Following AIDS Adagio, we have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of hosting an installation,
The Four Questions, by Judy Chicago, which opens on Thursday, May 7 and runs
through May 30. Chicago, creator of The Dinner Party - an iconic work of feminist American
art – has been associated with a number of dissident themes and projects. In 1991, as
part of a larger project dealing with the enormity of the Holocaust, Chicago and her husband,
the photographer Donald Woodman, created a series of paintings, drawings and
photographs that addresses foundational moral, political and medical issues central to how
our culture views human beings and determines their experience and destiny. The works
correlate aspects of Nazi racial “science” - the management of human genetic engineering
- with parallels from contemporary culture, a culture which Chicago sees as possessing
highly advanced scientific and technological capacities but lacking in ethical development
and empathic responsiveness. In the process of creating these works Chicago invented
a dramatic visual strategy that combines painting and photography, fusing images through
an optical system of alternating “slats.” Depending on where one stands in relation to the
work one sees either an image derived from Holocaust documentation or, alternately, an
image that references the contemporary situation.

Center for Bioethi cs and Hum anities
University of Colorado
Fulginiti Pavilion for Bioethics and Humanities
13080 E. 19th Ave. Mailstop B137
Aurora, CO 80045
Phone: (303) 724-3994
Fax: (303) 724-3997
Editor-in-Chief: therese.jones@ucdenver.edu
Managing Editor: david.weil@ucdenver.edu
Web: www.coloradobioethics.org
Peter Hulac, MD at recent Trisomy 13 & 18 Conference,
held in the Gossard Forum of the Fulginiti Pavilion.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Mondays-Noon Art in Medicine Lectures through 12/19
October 25 Robert Schrier, M.D. Recognition Event
November 1 Café Ped
November 14 Arrhythmias / Melomania Holiday Concert
Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Rockley Family Foundation Musical Instrument Sale
December 5 Raphael Campo; Inaugural Claman Lectureship
December 3-6 ZATA Silent Auction and Art Exhibit
December 13 Gallery Opening: AIDS Adagio
About
The Fulginiti Pavilion
for Bioethics and Humanities
� Art Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm.
� The grand piano in our lobby is open for use by students, faculty,
staff and visitors. Thank you to the Rockley Family Foundation for
this donation.
� The Gossard Forum is an in the round amphitheater seating 130.
This unique space is designed to encourage discussion.
� The Forum features 4 projection screens, audience microphones
and outstanding acoustics.
� Light maple trim is featured throughout the Fulginiti Pavilion.
� There are two small conference rooms in the facility: The UPI Conference
Room on the 1st floor seats 14, and the Fulginiti Family
Conference Room on the 2nd floor seats 12 people.
� The Center for Bioethics and Humanities offices are on the 2nd
floor, and the Interprofessional Education offices are in the lower
level.
� Design of the building is by NAC Architecture with Stuart Crawford
as the principal designer.