The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Series Mission

This speaker series was originally conceptualized by the late Catherine Kerr, PhD to catalyze a new field of integrated discovery around the role of vital energy ("Qi/chi") in health and healing. Building off of recent advances in the sciences, as well as the longstanding scholarship in the humanities examining how contemplative practices (eg meditation and qigong) may promote health, this speaker series will bring together humanistic, scientific, clinical, and practitioner perspectives. In honoring Cathy’s work and vision, this speaker series will provide an important forum to continue and deepen a critical interdisciplinary approach to studying the role of vital energy in health. We will accomplish this through the exploration of current and future scholarship and research pathways and collaborations.

The Kerr Vital Energy Research Collaborative Members:

Larson DiFiori, Stephanie Jones, Christopher Moore, Harold Roth, Simona Temereanca
Ibanescu, Chloe Zimmerman, Dylan Daniels, Anne Heyrman-Hart

Pleaae join us for Daoist Medicine, a lecture by Josh Paynter, L.aC. on February 9th, 2023 from 7 - 8:30 pm. EST.  This is a virtual event -- to register and receive a Zoom link, please go to  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeceRvrDeXMb4_38K0nu0v2WWlNkCyxzQ-rrI2hlOI7cJuEiQ/viewform. 

Abstract: 

In this talk we will explore the complexity of the notion of Qi in the context of disease, medicine and the practitioner. Investigating obsolete materia medica as a forensic tool, we will look at the various ways in which an object takes on its medically useful qualities. We will also look at this principal of imbued qualities as it pertains to the practitioner. The various practices and parameters of Daoist medicine (Zhuyou 祝由, Fuzhou 符咒 or talismanic practices etc.) will be central to this discussion.

Recorded Lectures and Workshops

Professor Heiner Fruehauf, Ph.D., LAc
Inaugural Lecture:  A Brief History of Qi:  From Ancient Cosmology to Modern Medical Practice
November 6, 2020

Professor David Palmer (University of Hong Kong)
Lecture:  Out of Ontological Bounds:  Researching Qi During China's Qigong Craze
With Response by Professor Nancy Chen (University of Califoria, Santa Cruz) 
January 14, 2021

Roundtable Discussion 1
Professors Heiner Fruehauf, Nancy Chen and David Palmer
March 18, 2021

Roundtable Discussion 2
Masters Yang Yang, Kenmeth Cohen and Harrison Moretz
June 28, 2021

Dr. Albert Yeung, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Lecture:  Qigong and Tai Chi for the Treatment of Depression
October 26, 2021

Dr. Shamini Jain, Founder and CEO of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI)
Lecture:  Biofield Therapies:  Surveying the Clinical Landscape
December 9, 2021

Dr. Julienne Bower, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry/Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California Los Angeles
Lecture:  Mind-body Interventions:  Effects on Mental and Physical Health
January 27, 2022

Dr. Byeongsang Oh, Associate Professor at the Universtiy of Sydney 
Lecture:  Tai Chi and Qigong in Medicine:  Opportunities and Challenges
February 24, 2022

Prof, Heiner Fruehauf, Ph.D., LAc, Founding Professor of the College of Classical Chinese Medicine at National University of Natural Medicine
 The Transformation of Chinese Medicine in the Age of Scientific Materialism: Overview of a Journey
July 7, 2022

Prof. Hiro Saito, Associate Professor of Sociology at Singapore Management University and Director of Holistic Education Lab
The Sociological Imagination, Contemplative Practice and Social Change
October 24, 2022 

Josh Paynter, L.ac. 
Daoist Medicine
February 9, 2023