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I am an independent scholar. In 1976 when I read Richard Selzer's Mortal Lessons, it put me on a path toward the medical humanities. I was half-way through researching and writing Selzer's biography when I was asked to write BIOETHICS AND MEDICAL ISSUES IN LITERATURE. It has now become an updated second edition popular with the general reader and useful in classroom curricula worldwide.
Other publications appear in Columbia University's Voices in Bioethics, Teaching American Literature, and Hektoen International: A Journal of Medical Humanities. I have lectured about my work on Richard Selzer before a SRO audience at the Yale School of Medicine. Twenty-five years later, I am continuing my work on Richard Selzer's biography. His influence on the art of medicine is significant, transforming attitudes toward the ethics of writing about patients. His stories ask questions.
To support my work, I have received fellowships from Yaddo, Indiana University's Helm, and the Institute for Medical Humanities at UT-Galveston.
I live in Fort Worth, Texas--"Where the West begins." There is a free-flowing creek behind my house. I enjoy watching unusual birds, and other wildlife, migrate in and out of it. I am married to Jim Stripling, an attorney and musician. We have two daughters and two granddaughters.