Lecture Series

Naomi Rosenberg, MD delivered the 2026 Boyarsky Lecture on March 5th at 5:30 p.m.

The Abnormal Becomes Normal: Facing Human Suffering in Clinical Medicine

Dr. Naomi Rosenberg, Assistant Dean for Narrative Medicine and Health Humanities at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, delivered the 2026 Boyarsky Lecture on Thursday, March 5th in the Trent Semans Great Hall.

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 integrating narrative medicine into Temple University's Katz School of Medicine curriculum. As Director of the Narrative Medicine Program since 2022, she has led 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.

The Boyarsky Lectureship in Law, Medicine and Bioethics was created through a gift from Drs. Saul and Rose Boyarsky to bring distinguished lecturers to the Duke campus who speak on topics ranging from social justice and public health through science. Past recipients have included Dr. William Barber III, Jonathan Haidt, and Ezekiel Emanuel.

Devan Stahl delivered the Trent Center's Annual Nancy Weaver Emerson lecture on Thursday, September 10th.

Public Bioethics: Can Ordinary People Navigate Extraordinary Questions?

In an era of declining trust in medicine, science, and healthcare institutions, there is good reason to consider how to foster a more public conversation about the aims, goals, and ethics of medicine. Bioethics is not something that belongs only to academics, physicians, and policymakers but to everyone affected by healthcare decisions—which is to say, everyone. Dr. Stahl explores how public bioethics can help ordinary people navigate extraordinary moral questions by making ethical reflection accessible, inclusive, and grounded in real human lives.

Devan Stahl, PhD, MDiv, is an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Religion at Baylor University and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Education, Innovation, and Technology at the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Stahl serves as the Associate Director of the Baylor Center for Ethics and volunteers as a clinical ethics consultant for Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Hospital. She is also the cohost of the popular podcast Bioethics for the People, now in its eighth season.

The Nancy Weaver Emerson Lectureship in Medical Ethics brings nationally-renowned speakers to Duke University to address important ethical issues in medicine. Established in 1997, the lectureship honors the late Nancy Weaver Emerson, an advocate who spread hope to many and was an unflagging example of how to find the “can” in cancer. Past recipients have included Lydia Dugdale, Victoria Sweet, Jeremy Sugarman, and Carl Elliott.

Susan Magsamen, author of "Your Brain on Art," delivered the 2026 Trent Center McGovern Lecture on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026.

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, a groundbreaking neuroaesthetics initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her work focuses on how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior, and how this knowledge can be translated to inform health, wellbeing, and learning programs in medicine, public health, and education.

In addition to her academic and research leadership, Susan is a successful entrepreneur who has founded award-winning arts education companies—including Curiosity Kits and Curiosityville—that have received over 600 awards for innovation and impact. She is also the author of seven books on the arts for children, families, and educators.

She developed Impact Thinking, an interdisciplinary translational research model designed to enhance human potential through the use of arts and aesthetics. This generative framework applies a new scientific method to arts and aesthetics research, with a focus on how findings can be scaled, disseminated, and evaluated for real-world impact.

Susan also serves as co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint project, a joint initiative with the Aspen Institute that seeks to establish the field of Neuroarts, where arts and aesthetics are fully integrated into medicine and public health.

She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, written for the general public.

The McGovern Award Lectureship was established by Duke alumnus and philanthropist John McGovern, MD to recognize, stimulate and encourage those whose life and work epitomize the humane and healing dimensions of medicine. Past recipients have included Iain McGilchrist, Kimberly Manning, Dorothy Roberts, and Paul Starr.