September Narrative Medicine Rounds with Dr. Damon Tweedy

For our first rounds of the school we welcomed Dr. Damon Tweedy, professor of psychiatry, practicing physician, and New York Times bestselling author of Black Man in a White Coat, who will speak to us about his most recent book, Facing the Unseen: The Struggle to Center Mental Health in Medicine. In Facing The Unseen, Dr. Tweedy guides us through his days working in outpatient clinics, emergency rooms, and hospitals as he meets people from all walks of life who are grappling with physical and psychological illnesses. In powerful, compassionate, and eloquent prose, Tweedy argues for a more comprehensive and integrated approach where people with mental illness have a health care system that places their full well-being front and center.

Dr. Damon Tweedy is a professor of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine and staff physician at the Durham Veteran Affairs Health System. His first book, Black Man in a White Coat, was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the Top 10 Non-fiction books of that year. He has also published articles about race, medicine, and mental health in medical journals and print publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

​​​​Dr. Tweedy was in conversation with Dr. Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Support and Services, the Inaugural Dean of Medical School Professionalism in the Learning Environment at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. She has over 20 years of experience in patient care, medical education, and management of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services in Upper Manhattan. Dr. Bradford received her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Harvard College and completed her Medical Degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. 

Dr. Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford has been a Columbia faculty member since completing her residency in Psychiatry at Columbia University where she served as chief resident. Dr. Alves-Bradford’s professional interests include medical education, faculty development, improving care in underserved communities, and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion and belonging. She enjoys creating clinical and educational programs to address unmet needs. She created a longitudinal upstander curriculum for medical students, a clinical service integrating primary care into outpatient mental health clinics, and directs the health equity and justice curriculum for psychiatric residents. 

Narrative Medicine Rounds are monthly rounds held on the first Wednesday of the month during the academic year, hosted by the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Rounds are supported by live captioning. If you have any other accessibility needs or concerns, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 212-854-2388 or disability@columbia.edu at least 10 days in advance of the event. We do our best to arrange accommodations received after this deadline but cannot guarantee them. A recording of our September Virtual Narrative Medicine rounds will be shared temporarily for 30 days with those who registered for the event.