We are a community of Christian academic physicians and scientists who are committed to helping one another discern and live up to our faith-based calling. We endeavor to transform our academic communities through faith, fellowship, and scholarship.

News & Events

NEWS

  • CMDA CEO interviewed David L. Larson, MD and Kim-Lien Nguyen, MD about the motivation for CAPS – Listen to podcast at CMDA Matters – to be released April 23, 2020.
  • If you are a CAPS member, we are interested in knowing how we can serve you and the Christian academic medical community. Please complete our CAPS Membership Needs Survey, which will be emailed to you.
  • Local medical center/university group leaders needed – please contact Dr. Kim-Lien Nguyen by completing the form under "Contact Us".
  • If you are already a CAPS member, please explore the membership portal. If you are interested in international medical education, please consider volunteering for CMDA's Medical Education International.

 

EVENTS

CAPS 2020 Webinar Series

Wednesdays 5pm PDT / 7pm CDT / 8pm EDT

Please click on REGISTER to sign up for each webinar. You will be asked to provide your CMDA account (not CAPS account) login & password to register. If you do not have a CMDA account, please create an account in the pop-up menu in order to register. A link for the webinar will be emailed to you after you have registered for the event.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

A Relational Approach to Making Reproducing Disciples of Jesus

We have had the Biblical model right before our eyes for how to make disciples who make disciples, but it has been largely ignored. Jesus invited a few into his inner circle, walked with and taught them over a 3-year period in order to transfer His ministry to them. Jesus made disciples in a relational setting. In this webinar we will learn a specific way to translate Jesus’ relational approach into a way the average follower of Jesus can make disciples. We will explore specifically how a micro group (3s or 4s) creates an environment of transformation into Christlikeness and becomes the vehicle to multiply disciples.

A Relational Approach to Making Reproducing Disciples of Jesus

Greg Ogden is “retired” or better yet “redeployed” (as of March, 2012) from professional church leadership. He now lives out his passion of speaking, teaching, and writing about the disciple-making mission of the church. Most recently Greg served as Executive Pastor of Discipleship at Christ Church of Oak Brook, IL. in the Chicago western suburbs. From 1998-2002, Greg held the position of Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Fuller Theological Seminary and Associate Professor of Lay Equipping and Discipleship. Prior to coming to Fuller, Greg enjoyed 24 years in pastoral ministry. He is the author of six books and is the chairman of the board of Global Discipleship Initiative (GDI).

Greg Ogden, DMin
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Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Finding New Joy In the Journey Through Discipleship and Mentorship

After being hit by a car at age 16 with a prolonged recovery in the hospital, he was blessed with mentors who helped lead him to a full faith in Christ while he was still in the hospital, encouraging him to "read the book (Bible)." Dr. Hey will share his experience on the application of discipleship in academic life and medicine. Based on his experience, he will share how academic achievements may be meaningless without fulfilling the one "job" God gave us to do just before he shot up to heaven: "Go and Make Disciples." But what does that look like in 2020 as a medical student, resident, fellow, young academician, or practicing physician... or perhaps for an older physician approaching retirement? Dr. Hey will share how one can discover greater joy in one's walk, and leave some "fruit that will last" (John 15), which is a legacy of disciples and mentees who can continue to grow and multiply. He'll explore the overlap that can truly work between one's Christian daily walk to "follow Jesus", and one's role as a mentor and mentee in the real world of clinical care and academia.

Finding New Joy In the Journey Through Discipleship and Mentorship

Dr. Hey is a practicing spine surgeon. He studied electrical engineering and premed at MIT, and then Harvard for medical school, residency, and completed a Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship at Boston Children's. He received his MS in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He and his family moved to North Carolina where he served as a spine fellow at Duke University, and then served on faculty for nearly 10 years as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery. For the last 15 years, he has served as the leader of Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery, and has also served as a leader in the Scoliosis Research Society, currently as the Chairman of the Safety and Value Committee. Dr. Hey is currently affiliated with the Campbell School of Osteopathic Medicine. For the last 30 years, he has been involved with intentional discipleship with medical students, residents and others in small groups of 3-4, and also mentoring pre-meds, medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty in clinical care as well as in clinical research and safety and quality improvement interventions and research. He has started a non-profit called CareGuard.org, and the Better Samaritan Institute which have been used as a way of mentoring over 50 pre-med and medical students in just the last 3 years. He has been married to his wife, Lori ,for nearly 34 years, and has 2 adult children. Lori and Lloyd also lead a Small Group in their home each week.

Lloyd A. Hey, MD, MS
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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Christian Thinking and Medical Research

This talk presents material from my book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, beginning with the fundamental contribution of classic Christology (from the Bible and the historical creeds) to all of Christian life, including Christian thinking. It then shows how classical doctrines of Christology can encourage research, including medical research. The last part of the talk explores general guidelines from classical Christology for research of all kinds.

Christian Thinking and Medical Research

Mark A. Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame, and McManis Professor of Christian Thought Emeritus, Wheaton College. Among other books, he has published In the Beginning Was the Word:  The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783 (Oxford University Press, 2016); God and Race in American Politics:  A Short History (Princeton University Press, 2008); The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (University of North Carolina Press, 2006); and America's God, from Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (Oxford University Press, 2002). On Christian thinking and scholarship, he has published The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans, 1994) and Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Eerdmans, 2011). On questions of science and religion, he is the co-editor with David Livingstone of B. B. Warfield:  Evolution, Science, and Scripture--Selected Writings  (Baker Books, 2000); and with Livingstone and D. G. Hart, Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999). He is also the author of "Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism," in Science and Religion:  A Historical Introduction, ed. Gary B. Ferngren (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002).

Mark A. Noll, PhD
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Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Professionalism, Moral Injury and Burnout: 

What does bioethics have to do with it?


Healthcare providers, at all levels, but particularly physicians, are in an ethical crisis today. The institutions and organizations who support and direct them are mounting efforts to study and remedy the problem, but physician burnout and dissatisfaction with the profession continues to trend upwards.  The ACGME has addressed this problem with requirements that make prevention and early identification of stress and burnout a priority of the program and its institution.  How and why has this shift occurred in just a generation of physicians? Has it always been with us?  Why is the joy of medicine being so compromised in so many?  What can be done at a programmatic level to deal with it?  And, what does bioethics have to do with it?


This session will trace the history of medical ethics and the post-modern cultural transition to bioethics and the moral challenges it presents to our residents and fellows.  This shift has resulted in stress, burnout, depression and disillusionment with medicine and even suicide.  By establishing a philosophy of medicine that includes critical thinking to deal with the moral injury sustained by our trainees, program directors can provide suggestions and guidelines to restore medicine as an art and science.  The presenters will offer examples of practical wisdom and suggested solutions that can be applied to clinical problems faced by our trainees daily.   

Professionalism, Moral Injury and Burnout: What does bioethics have to do with it?

Dr. Larson retired from his position of 27 years as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2012.  He was also Program Director of the training program for 20 years and served on the ACGME Residency Review Committee in Plastic Surgery for 6 years.  Prior to moving to Milwaukee, he held the position of Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, from 1979 to 1986.  He is Board certified in both Otolaryngology and Plastic Surgery.  Dr. Larson has authored over 140 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and books.  Dr. Larson has a lifetime commitment to the education of medical students, residents, fellows, and peers as well as traveled extensively around the world teaching in missions.  He is the current Chairman of the MEI Advisory Council.

David Larson, MD

Dr. Fabrice Jotterand is Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities and Director of the Graduate Program in Bioethics at the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Medical College of Wisconsin. He holds a second appointment as Senior Researcher at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel. He is also a member of the Cross Pillar at the Kern Institute at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His work examines the importance of character formation in the moral development of future physicians as well as how the philosophy of medicine contributes to medical professionalism. His scholarship and research interests focus on issues including neuroethics, ethical issues in psychiatry and mental health, the use of neurotechnologies in psychiatry, medical professionalism, neurotechnologies and human identity, and moral/political philosophy. He has published more than 50 articles and book chapters, as well as editing five books. His present research focuses on an examination of the ethical, regulatory and social issues arising from the use of emerging neurotechnologies in psychiatry and neurology. He is working on a book, entitled The Unfit Brain and the Limits of Moral Bioenhancement, that focuses on the ethical and social implications of the potential use of neurotechnologies in psychiatry to alter brain functions to address so-called “moral pathologies” (antisocial, aggressive, and harmful behavior; psychopathic traits).

Dr. Jotter and’s background in philosophy and bioethics will make a complementary contribution to Dr. Larson’s perspective as a clinician and educator.

Fabrice Jotterand, PhD
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Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Religion and Medicine: Research and Clinical Applications

Dr. Koenig will (1) examine the role that religion plays in coping with medical illness and stress, (2) review research on the relationship between religion and mental, social, behavioral, and physical health, (3) present a model that explains the mechanisms by which religious involvement may affect health, and (4) explore implications for clinical practice, focusing on the spiritual history and other patient-centered applications, as well as boundaries that should only carefully be crossed.

Religion and Medicine: Research and Clinical Applications

Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc. Dr. Koenig completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, his medical school training at the University of California at San Francisco, and his geriatric medicine, psychiatry, and biostatistics training at Duke University. He is board certified in general psychiatry, and formerly boarded in family medicine, geriatric medicine, and geriatric psychiatry. He is on the faculty at Duke University Medical Center as Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Medicine, is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and in the School of Public Health at Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China. Dr. Koenig has over 500 scientific peer-reviewed academic publications, nearly 100 book chapters, and more than 50 books. His research has been featured on many national and international TV programs (including ABC’s World News Tonight, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Dr. Oz Show, NBC Nightly News) and hundreds of national and international radio programs and newspapers/magazines (including Reader's Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religious involvement on public health. He is the recipient of the 2012 Oskar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association and the 2013 Gary Collins award from the American Association of Christian Counselors. Dr. Koenig is the lead author of the Handbook of Religion and Health, 3rd edition (2021, forthcoming, with Harvard University professors Tyler VanderWeele and John Raymond Peteet).

Harold G. Koenig, MD
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Wednesday, October 21, 2020

I started my medical career full of ambition and motivation. Character growth required forgiveness for my father. Praying for patients takes a lot of nerve. Please use short prayers if you are going to pray for people. Stress makes us non-relational. Feeling God's presence when under stress is difficult. Authenticity is necessary for true success. Daniel in the Bible was surrounded by people trying to make a name for themselves. How did Daniel survive in a culture that was not supportive of his spiritual beliefs? What price did Daniel pay for his spiritual success?

A Neurosurgeon’s Journey at the Intersection of Faith and Medicine

Dr. David I. Levy is a neurosurgeon who practiced high-risk neurosurgery for more than 20 years.  After attending Emory School of Medicine, he obtained neurosurgical training at Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona. He completed his endovascular neurosurgery fellowship at the University of Vienna in Austria and specialized in minimally-invasive neurosurgery using endovascular approaches.  Dr. Levy was appointed Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at University of California, San Diego from 2013 - 2017. He has performed neurosurgery in Paris, India, Kenya and Congo.

Dr. Levy is also the author of Gray Matter: a neurosurgeon discovers the power of prayer…one patient at a time. In his book, he details the dramatic intersection of medicine and faith, and the power of forgiveness. The book has been published in French, Romanian and Russian. His fascination with neuroscience and his gift for public speaking encouraged him in 2017 to pursue his growing passion––communicating spiritual truth. He speaks on topics of neuroscience and presents God’s wisdom as pertinent and powerful today. He has spoken in the USA and internationally on topics at the intersection of neurosurgery, neuroscience, and faith.

David I. Levy, MD
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Wednesday, November 11, 2020

"Do Not Worry About Tomorrow" & the Medicalization of Risk

If a primary care clinician today is to be judged as worthy of her salt, she is to constantly keep track of patient’s risk factors and intervene by pointing out these risk factors to the patient, warning the patient of the consequences of not managing the risk, and encouraging the patient to engage in the strategies that medical science offers for reducing such risks. After all, the message goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” How do we square this focus on prevention with Jesus’ admonition that we not be anxious about the body? And with his challenging question, “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” In this talk, Dr. Curlin will suggest that medicine has come in many cases to stir up the anxiety Jesus told us not to have, and to promise relief that is does not have power to deliver. He will then propose how we can talk with patients about risk in ways that reflect the truth both of God’s care for them and of medicine’s real but quite limited powers to secure our future.

"Do Not Worry About Tomorrow" & the Medicalization of Risk

Farr A. Curlin, MD, is Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities in the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School. Before moving to Duke in 2014, he founded and was Co-Director of the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago. At Duke, Farr practices palliative medicine and works with colleagues in the Trent Center and the Divinity School to develop opportunities for education and scholarship at the intersection of theology, medicine and culture. He is interested in the moral and spiritual dimensions of medical practice—particularly the doctor-patient relationship, the moral and professional formation of physicians, and practices of care for patients at the end of life.

Farr A. Curlin, MD
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Religion, Spirituality, and the Intensive Care Unit The Sound of Silence

Michael Balboni, PhD and Tracy Balboni, MD
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