Conference: Call for Papers

The 5th Annual Medicine and the Humanities
and Social Sciences Conference

Sam Houston State University
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Huntsville, TX
February 1 2013

Call for Papers

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sam Houston State University invites abstracts for paper and poster presentations on topics related to the intersection between Medicine and the humanities and the social sciences. The conference is interdisciplinary and open to contributions from all relevant disciplines and includes plenary thematic sessions, didactic sessions, roundtables with community representatives and stakeholders, a full poster exhibition, student sessions and a student poster competition. 

The aims of the conference are to promote interdisciplinary discussion around contemporary health challenges, and to develop networks for future research. Social and behavioral scientists, medical humanities scholars, healthcare professionals, and students interested in careers in healthcare are encouraged to participate in this important conference devoted to examining how social factors facilitate the health and well being of children and adults across the global community. 

The conference will be held on the campus of Sam Houston State University on February 1, 2013. Sam Houston State is located in Huntsville, TX about 1 hour North of Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Conference sessions/topics may include but are not limited to:

Community Health
Health Disparities
Health and Medicine across Time and Place
Health and the Environment
Medicalization of Society
Medicine and the Arts and Literature
Medicine and Ethics
Medicine, Globalization and New Infectious Diseases
Medicine, Health and Society
Medicine and Public Policy
Medicine: Traditional/folkloric/alternative and Contemporary
Medicine and (World) Languages
Nutrition and Wellness

Political Determinates of Decision-Making in Medicine
Preparing Students for the New MCAT
Public Health and Prevention
The Obesity Epidemic

Oral paper presentations will be 20 minutes in length, with 10 minutes for questions and answers. Applicants with proposals not selected for oral paper presentations will be invited to participate in the plenary poster session.

Student researchers will also be able to participate in a poster competition. Students’ posters will be reviewed by the Poster Judging Panel and evaluated based on:

1. quality and importance of the scientific question
2. content: design and methodology
3. oral explanation by author(s)

In order to be considered for a poster prize, at least one author must be present during the designated poster review session in order to provide a brief explanation of the research.

Please submit a structured abstract of approximately 300 to 500 words with Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Submissions should be received by November 16, 2012. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Abstract Review Committee and evaluated based on importance of the question, content design and methodology, and organization and clarity. Receipt of abstract submissions will be acknowledged via e-mail to the submitting author. After the review process is complete, the author will be notified regarding the acceptance or rejection of her/his abstracts.

Please send your abstract electronically to:

Medicine and the Humanities and Social Sciences Conference
Abstract Review Committee
E-MAIL ADDRESS: soc_aab@shsu.edu