Presentation by Vanderbilt surgeon in Chattanooga

Submitted by the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA — “Pens and Scalpels: Writing the Life In Medicine,” will be the topic of a special presentation by A. Scott Pearson, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, at the Institutional Core Curriculum Grand Rounds on Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

The special session, sponsored by the University of Tennessee College of Medicine (UTCOM) Gold Humanism Honor Society, will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in the Probasco Auditorium on the Erlanger Baroness Campus. The event will also be available for viewing via webcast.

Scott Pearson grew up in a farming community in West Tennessee. After graduating from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, he completed medical school at the University of Tennessee Memphis. Dr. Pearson then completed eight years of surgical training in Texas, including a residency in general surgery at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and a surgical oncology fellowship at M. D. Anderson in Houston.

For the past decade, Dr. Pearson has been a member of the surgical faculty at Vanderbilt University, where he combines cancer research with the clinical practice of surgery. Since completing a faculty fellowship at Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Pearson currently teaches an undergraduate seminar on the importance of the patient’s narrative in medicine.

A member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Association of Cancer Research, and the Association of Academic Surgery, Pearson has published in numerous scientific journals. He lives with his family in Nashville, Tennessee and is the author of the novel, RUPTURE.

Educational Credit

Physicians, nurses, residents, medical students and other healthcare professionals are invited to attend. Continuing Medical Education credits (AMA) will be available. For more information and webcast viewing information, contact UTCOMC’s Office of Continuing Medical Education at 423-778-6884 or CME@Erlanger.org.

About GHHS:

The Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) is an international association dedicated to the values of humanism and professionalism. The University of Tennessee GHHS Chapter works within and beyond medical education to inspire, nurture, and sustain lifelong advocates and activists for compassionate patient care. Chapter leaders for the UT College of Medicine GHHS are Mukta Panda, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine; Robert Fore, EdD, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; and Pam Scott, Director for Graduate and Medical Student Education.

About UTCOMC:

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (UTCOMC), based at Erlanger, is one of three fully integrated campuses in the state (Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga) that comprise the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Currently, 161 residents and fellows receive graduate medical education through UTCOMC’s nine residency and five fellowship programs.

About Erlanger:

Erlanger Health System is a nonprofit teaching hospital affiliated with the UTCOMC. A Level One Trauma Center for adults, Erlanger is the only provider of tertiary care services for a four-state region. It also operates T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital, the region’s only full-service pediatric hospital. Each year, more than a quarter of a million people are treated by the team of healthcare professionals at Erlanger.