Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Medical, Legal, Religious, and Multicultural Implications Symposium

Increasingly, workshops, conferences, and even special issues of journals are examining the interfaces that link various medical perspectives. Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) challenge conventional Western medicine in the public square and compete for dollars from governments, insurance companies, and patients. Some are closely tied, moreover, to religious or spiritual orientations. This symposium will examine how these approaches perceive and negotiate their boundaries. Do conflicts express the “culture wars” of our time? Can anyone establish grounds for “reasonable accommodation”? What are the implications for medicine, law, religion, and multiculturalism?

Keynote speakers
David Colquhoun , an eminent UK scientist and noted skeptic. David Colquhoun, is a professor of pharmacology at University College London, fellow of the Royal Society and blogger (Improbable Science).
Michael H. Cohen , a lawyer and professor at Harvard School of Public Health, is the author of many books on legal, regulatory, and ethical problems arising from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Katherine K. Young is James McGill Professor in the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University. She publishes in the areas of Hinduism, comparative religion, comparative ethics, and gender.

RSVP: contact Francesca Maniaci at (514) 398-5693 or francesca.maniaci [at] mcgill.ca
Registration Fee: $20.00, $10.00 for students (includes lunch)