CBD 2024: From Furious to Curious: Deep Listening and the Alchemy of Strong Emotions with Ron Epstein, MD

The psychologist Carl Jung once said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves.” So true, but how do we, as health professionals working in high-stakes and emotionally fraught settings, move forward when fear and moral outrage rattle our core, temporarily clouding our inner compass? In this talk, Dr. Epstein, palliative care physician, researcher, and author of Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity, will explore how we can cultivate attentiveness, curiosity, beginner’s mind, and presence in the face of fear and conflict when the stakes are high and emotions are intense. He will draw on narratives of health professionals as well as data from Mindful Practice in Medicine programs, designed to promote awareness, compassion, and clinician and organizational resilience through contemplative practices, appreciative dialogues, and deep listening.

Ronald Epstein, M.D. is an internationally recognized physician, educator, researcher, and writer. He has published groundbreaking research on communication in medical settings and developed innovative educational programs to improve communication with people who are seriously ill and promote clinician self-awareness, resilience and well-being. His over 300 scholarly articles and his book, Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity, show how health professionals can flourish, build strong connections with patients and colleagues, and optimize the care they provide. Dr. Epstein co-directs the Center for Communication and Disparities Research and Mindful Practice Programs at the University of Rochester where he is Professor of Family Medicine, Oncology and Medicine (Palliative Care). A graduate of Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School, he is the recipient of numerous lifetime achievement awards relating to communication and humanism, a Fulbright fellowship in Barcelona, fellowships at the University of Sydney and the Brocher Institute, and the American Cancer Society’s highest award, the Clinical Research Professorship.