• Royce Fellowship
Allison
Silverman

Award Year 

2016
Doctor and patient definitions of “success” in neurosurgery

Faculty Sponsor: Katherine Mason and Janet Cooper Nelson

Using the fields of linguistic anthropology and neuroethics, Allison will investigate the ways surgeons conducting experimental neurosurgeries define success. The highly variable outcome of these surgeries creates the need for an unusually nuanced discourse between patient and physician. Allison will investigate interactions between a select number of surgeons and patients in hopes of better understanding how physicians communicate realistic expectations to patients and the possibilities for balancing individual and biomedical priorities in treatment.