2026 Boyarsky Lecture

The Abnormal Becomes Normal: Facing Human Suffering in Clinical Medicine​

Thursday, March 5 at 5:30pm

Naomi Rosenberg, MD

Thursday, March 5, 5:30 pm
Trent Semans, Great Hall

Register HERE for in-person lecture
Register HERE for Zoom webinar

Naomi Rosenberg, MD, is the Assistant Dean for Narrative Medicine and Health Humanities at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. A highly respected physician, educator and writer, Dr. Rosenberg earned her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at Temple. In addition to her clinical work as an attending physician, she has been at the forefront of developing a groundbreaking narrative-based curriculum and certificate program that has become a model for medical education. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

From 2004 until his death in 2022, Dr. Rosenberg worked under Dr. Paul Farmer, a pioneer in community-based treatment strategies, in a variety of roles to advance health equity and expand access to high-quality, comprehensive health care for patients around the world. From 2007-2013, she directed the Right to Health Care program at the global health non-profit Partners In Health, and managed critical patient evacuations and long-term care following the 2010 Haiti earthquake as well as developing a model for community-based accompaniment of traumatically-injured and critically-ill immigrants and refugees. While at Temple, Dr. Rosenberg coordinated logistics for Operation Allies Welcome at Philadelphia International Airport in 2021, where she helped coordinate medical care for Afghan evacuees. Her contributions in these roles have earned her the Medal of Service from the Philadelphia Association of Haitian Churches in 2010 and the Rising Star Award from the Roosevelt Institute in 2014.