Elizabeth Blackwell and Sarah Loguen Fraser lectures presented in February

SYRACUSE, N.Y.-- Upstate Medical University is continuing its Black History Month celebration by hosting two lectures named for two women pioneers in medicine. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Elizabeth Blackwell Day Lecture
Ruth Hart, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., will present the keynote address titled, What’s Rembrandt Got To Do With It? Reflections on the Humanities in Medical Education, at the 30th annual Elizabeth Blackwell Day Lecture Feb. 25 at noon in the Medical Alumni Auditorium, Weiskotten Hall. A lunch reception will follow in the atrium at Setnor Academic Building. Hart, class of 1980, is an emergency medicine physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, clinical associate professor of family medicine and clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at Upstate.

In her talk, Hart will explore issues in medicine through literature and the arts, including such topics as epidemic and quarantine, in light of the recent Ebola crisis. Physician authors’ insights, chosen by medical students in Hart’s humanities electives courses, will be discussed. Hart is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and has received numerous awards for her work in diversity, including the Onondaga County Medical Society’s Service Award, the American Medical Women’s Association’s Gender Equity Awards and Upstate’s Presidents Award for Voluntary Faculty Service. Hart serves on the executive committee of the Onondaga County Medical Society and is a member of the Medical Alumni Board at Upstate.

Sarah Loguen Fraser Day Lecture
The life of College of Medicine graduate Sarah Loguen Fraser, M.D., class of 1876, the fourth African American woman doctor in America, and her father, the Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen, a noted abolitionist, will be discussed at the Sarah Loguen Fraser Day Lecture, Friday, Feb. 27 at 12:30 p.m. in 2231 Weiskotten Hall.  Lunch will be served to the first 50 people who attend the lecture.

Susan Keeter, assistant director of creative services at Upstate Medical University, will offer a brief introduction on the life of Loguen Fraser.

Following Keeter’s talk, K. Bruce Simmons, M.D., class of 1979, medical director of Employee/Student Health at Upstate, will discuss the life of the Rev. Loguen, “king” of the Underground railroad in Syracuse, bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and author of “As a Slave and as a Freeman, a Narrative of Real Life” (1859).

The Onondaga Historical Association’s film, “Jerry Rescue: Syracuse Defies the Fugitive Slave Law,” will be shown at the event, followed by a recognition ceremony honoring Michael Enechukwu, class of 2017, of the College of Medicine, recipient of the 2014-2015 Sarah Loguen Fraser scholarship.

Sarah Loguen Fraser, M.D., and Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D, are alumnae of the College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University.

Caption: Ruth Hart, M.D., will explore issues in medicine through literature and the arts, as the Elizabeth Blackwell Day keynote speaker.