The Hippocratic Society Podcast

We’re revisiting our December 16, 2024 conversation with bioethicist Xavier Symons. What does it mean to flourish, what role does medicine play in human flourishing, and how can medical students and physicians pursue a life well lived amid the demands of training and practice?This rebroadcast brings an early Hippocratic Society interview back to listeners who may have missed it. Originally released as episode 3.1, “Flourishing in Medicine with Xavier Symons,” it uses the original published audio.Resources from the original episode:On the promotion of human flourishing — Tyler J. VanderWeele: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114Activities for Flourishing: An Evidence-Based Guide — Tyler J. VanderWeele: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/files/pik/files/activitiesforflourishing_jppw.pdfHarvard Human Flourishing Program: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/

How can medical training cultivate character alongside clinical skill? Recorded at ASBH on October 17, 2026, Christopher Noda, Michael Egan, John Rhee and Katie Rowland explore virtue, humility and the role of community in helping physicians flourish. They discuss the Hippocratic Society’s approach to character formation, share preliminary curriculum research and take audience questions on inclusivity, clinical training and institutional pressures.The panel considers deliberate practice, role models, mentorship and community. Research findings are preliminary and subject to study-design and self-selection limitations.Chapters0:00 Podcast intro0:29 Welcome and panel introduction4:42 Michael Egan: character, virtue and flourishing14:45 Katie Rowland: humility and local chapter life21:52 Christopher Noda: studying the curriculum35:10 Michael Egan: implementing a local chapter37:31 Q&A: religious inclusivity and self-selection42:39 Q&A: voluntary versus required curriculum50:00 Q&A: formation during clinical years53:37 Q&A: institutional pressures and wellness58:27 Audience reflection: theater and ethics education1:01:14 Podcast outroRecommended readings and resourcesTyler J. VanderWeele, “On the promotion of human flourishing” (PNAS, 2017): https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114Jubilee Centre Framework for Character Education in Schools: https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/character-education-/the-jubilee-centre-framework-for-character-education-in-schools/The Hippocratic Society: Humility resources: https://hippsoc.org/virtues/humility

What does it mean to flourish when illness changes our abilities? Medical student Hudson Baker explores how relationships shape human well-being and why this matters for medicine. Through philosophy and clinical examples, he considers disability, dementia, end-of-life care, and the patient–physician relationship, offering a vision of care grounded in connection, dignity, and accompaniment.

What does hope look like when cure is no longer possible? In Hope at the Bedside: Care Beyond Cure, Brazilian medical students Lucas and Mariana explore hope as a virtue between despair and wishful thinking. Drawing on philosophy and the patient–physician relationship, they consider how honest communication, compassionate presence, and attention to dignity can sustain meaningful care, even at the end of life.

In this episode of the Hippocratic Society Podcast, Dr. Meg Chisholm, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a certified Visual Thinking Strategies facilitator, joins Dr. Khalid ElZamzamy, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins. Together, they explore how art can deepen reflection, strengthen community, and support the cultivation of virtue in medicine.

In this abstract session of the Hippocratic Society Conference, Dr. William Stigall, Vice President and Chief Research Officer at Cook Children's Healthcare System, discusses the art of medicine under an Aristotelean framework. He strategically parses out what makes the medical profession distinct in its essence from other professions and types of work.

Recorded at the 2nd Annual Hippocratic Society Conference, this talk works through the question using two texts Dr. Quaranta teaches at Duke: Stephen Jay Gould's essay "The Median Isn't the Message," written after his own diagnosis with an incurable cancer, and Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru, in which a Tokyo bureaucrat is lied to about his stomach cancer and must decide what to do with the months he has left.

At the Hippsoc 2026 Conference, Dr. John Rhee and Dr. Farr Curlin guide the audience to dive more deeply on the subject of hope in the medical practice and how it might look day to day. In this lecture, the presenters discuss a clinical experience and shed light on how we might generate hope practically in the clinical setting.

At the 2026 Hippocratic Society Conference, Dr. Ben Frush and Dr. Brewer Eberly discuss how one can hope amidst the pressures and difficulties of the practice of medicine.How can physicians be hopeful in the face of rising distrust in practitioners, bureaucratic pressures, time constraints, and the looming force of artificial intelligence? How can moral friendship sustain us? Drawing from philosophers and artist alike, Frush and Eberly offer a look at what it might mean to practice hope as a clinician.

At the 2026 Hippocratic Society Annual Conference, Dr. Allison Postell presents on the nature of hope. Is hope an emotion? Is it a virtue? Can we deliberately foster hope in our own lives, in our patients, and in medical practice as a whole? Dr. Postell addresses these questions through a variety of lenses, drawing mainly from the philosophical and psychological framework of Thomas Aquinas.