ITEMS OF INTEREST December 10, 2007 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Adam Eaglin, Mirko Petricevic

EVER SINCE the days of Darwin, science and faith have been pitted against each other—but the same cannot be said for medicine. Here at Duke, there are medical researchers hard at work addressing the correlations between religious activity and health. And at Duke Medical Center—like many hospitals around the country—chaplains are on-call and included alongside surgeons and nurses as part of the "care team."

"Overall the [Duke] administration and the medical profession have been very supportive and responsive to the pastoral care department, realizing that caring for patients has to involve caring for their spiritual needs as well," says Jim Travis, former director of pastoral care at Duke Hospital.

Twenty years ago, the idea of a spirituality research center, in a medical center of all places, may have seemed unlikely, says Harold Koenig, founder and co-director of Duke's Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.

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