Ira Kodner, MD, the Solon & Bettie Gershman Professor Emeritus of Surgery, will speak at the 19th annual Homer G. Phillips Public Health Lecture Series at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis on Oct. 24. The title of his talk is “A Legacy of Excellence: The Washington University and Homer G. Phillips Story.”
The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, at the Eric P. Newman Education Center, 320 S. Euclid Ave., on the Medical Campus. A dinner, which begins at 6:30 p.m., will precede the lecture.
The event is free and open to the public, but participants are asked to preregister by Friday, Oct. 17. To register, contact the Office of Diversity Programs at 314-362-6854 or medschooldiversity@wusm.wustl.edu.
Kodner established the section of colon and rectal surgery at the university and served as its first chief. He also is the founding director of the university’s Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values, one of only a few university programs that brings together people from diverse fields to study, research and teach about ethical issues of critical importance to human lives. Compassion and the wish to help people in serious need drew Kodner to surgery and prompted his pioneering work in ethics.
This public health lecture series is named in honor of the historic Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, formerly a premier training ground for African-American medical professionals. The hospital closed its doors Aug. 17, 1979. The building now houses the Homer G. Phillips Senior Living Community.
Free parking for the conference is available on surface lots, and validated parking is available in the Metro Garage and in the North Garage, across the street from the Center for Advanced Medicine. Please bring parking cards to the lobby.