The organizers the University of South Carolina Beaufort's Interdisciplinary Studies Conference, "Balm: Binding Art, Life, Medicine," invite proposals for this year's event. This interdisciplinary conference on Narrative Medicine and Health Humanities will be held virtually on Thursday, March 26th and on the Bluffton campus on Friday, March 27th.  We are extending the submission deadline from February 1st to February 15th to allow undergraduate scholars to generate potential contributions. Topics of Interest

We welcome interdisciplinary proposals that explore, interrogate, or illuminate the central theme, including but not limited to:

• Narrative Competence in Clinical Practice
  How can storytelling help providers more deeply connect with patients, families, and communities? What role does narrative play in diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care?
• Creative Expression and Catharsis
  How do poetry, fiction, journaling, visual art, and performance art offer therapeutic avenues for practitioners, patients, caregivers, and support persons?
• Narrative Medicine and Public Health
  In what ways can storytelling be leveraged in public health campaigns, education, and policy-making to foster more inclusive, effective, and compassionate health systems?
• Interdisciplinary Pedagogies
  How are narrative medicine and health and medical humanities being taught across fields? What collaborative models exist between the arts and sciences in medical education?
  How can educators (from clinicians and medical education to k-12) use health, illness, and medical narratives to promote better understanding of complex issues such as pain, disability, neurodiversity, and identity among others?
• Ethics, Empathy, and Power
  How do narratives complicate or clarify ethical dilemmas in healthcare? How might they empower marginalized voices or reveal systemic inequities?
• Case Studies and Lived Experience
  What can we learn from specific examples (clinical encounters, personal journeys, or community initiatives) that demonstrate the binding power of art, life, and medicine?

Contacts: Libby Ricardo or Amy Leaphart at IDSTCONF@uscb.edu

For more information, please visit our webpage:https://www.uscb.edu/academics/etais/interdisciplinary-conference/index.html