“8 Questions” is a Gold Foundation series spotlighting members of the Gold community – doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals of all kinds, students, corporate and hospital leaders, patients, family members, Trustees, staff members, and supporters.
Dr. Nora Jones
The Gold Foundation is delighted to introduce Dr. Nora Jones, Consulting Bioethicist, who will be editing the Jeffrey Silver Humanism in Healthcare Research Roundup. She earned her PhD in anthropology from Temple University and moved into the bioethics space first as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Bioethics and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. She then moved back to Temple University to co-found and serve as the Director of the MA in Urban Bioethics program.
Dr. Jones has given over 40 talks nationally and has over 30 publications; her scholarship focuses on embodiment theory, urban bioethics, critical social science, and the public understanding of science and medicine. She’s recently left academia and has moved to the philanthropic space where she is supporting organizations that foster the capacity for health in the lives of children and their families and communities.
Tell us about you. What drew you to work in healthcare?
I was drawn into the healthcare space because I think there is great power in blending biomedical and social sciences. I’ve had the privilege of sharing some of the anthropological toolbox with hundreds of current and future clinicians; coupled with their excellent clinical training, they are using that toolbox to help foster greater capacity for health with their patients and in their communities.
Why does humanism in healthcare matter to you?
No matter how you look at it, humanism in healthcare matters: practicing clinically excellent medicine that is also kind, trustworthy, and safe leads to healthier patients, more satisfied clinicians, and more efficient systems. The ROI of humanism is vast.
What are you most excited about in your new role at the Gold Foundation?
I’m most excited about being able to connect with all the wonderful staff and members of the Gold Foundation! I’m eager to learn with and from the collective.
What do you hope to bring to the Gold community through the Jeffrey Silver Humanism in Healthcare Research Roundup?
I hope that the Research Roundup will be a conversation starter. In my role as a Consulting Bioethicist I am aiming to bring that interdisciplinary worldview to the Roundups to build bridges and highlight connections. I hope that by using a new “What? So What? Now What?” format, readers will come away not only with more knowledge about something and why that thing is important, but with ideas about how they can apply that knowledge in practical and pragmatic ways.
What themes would you like to tackle in future issues of Research Roundup?
My first three Research Roundups will be focused on the pillars of Gold’s model of humanistic care: kindness, safety, and trust. After that, I’m interested in exploring more the relationship of humanism and bioethics and other themes that can help clinicians practice humanism. I’m also hopeful that readers will suggest topics of interest as well!
Editor’s Note: Read past issues of the Jeffrey Silver Humanism in Healthcare Research Roundup and sign up to receive an email each time a new issue is released.
What 3 books would you recommend to a student who is passionate about humanism in healthcare?
Arthur Frank’s The Wounded Storyteller is 30 years old this year but remains to me one of the most powerful books on the power of narrative ethics. Narrative ethics builds upon narrative medicine by focusing on the moral act of listening. Byron Good’s Medicine, Rationality, and Experience is another classic. Ann Jurečič’s Illness as Narrative is also quite good. The unifying theme is storytelling — as a means to come to know and make sense of the world and each other.
What is your happy place?
Hiking the Brandywine Valley!
What is one thing that the Gold community might be surprised to learn about you?
I did my dissertation research at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in the late 1990s, and in 2022 I was honored to be named a Fellow of the College – I think it’s a lovely 360 on my career!
Thank you, Dr. Jones! Read more interviews in the “8 Questions” series.
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