Could not complete log in. Possible causes and solutions are:
Cookies are not set, which might happen if you've never visited this website before.
Please open https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/ in a new window, then come back and refresh this page.
An ad blocker is preventing successful login.
Please disable ad blockers for this site then refresh this page.
Does some aspect of our personality survive bodily death? Long a philosophical and theological question, in the 20th century this became the subject of scientific research. Fifty years ago, in 1967, Ian Stevenson, then chair of UVA's Department of Psychiatry, created a research unit—now named the Division of Perceptual Studies—to study what, if anything, of the human personality survives after death. Dr. Stevenson's own research investigated hundreds of accounts of young children who claimed to recall past lives.
In this Medical Center Hour, faculty from the Division of Perceptual Studies highlight the unit's work since its founding, including studies of purported past lives, near-death experiences, and mind-brain interactions in phenomena such as deep meditation, veridical out-of-body experiences, deathbed visions, apparent communication from deceased persons, altered states of consciousness, and terminal lucidity in persons with irreversible brain damage. As the division enters its second half-century, what are its research priorities and partnerships?
History of the Health Sciences Lecture
Co-presented with Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, UVA
The stethoscope, an extension of the clinician's ear, is perhaps modern medicine's most characteristic symbol. Through it, doctors listen for the body to disclose its secrets. Doctors must also listen to their patients' stories. In fact, as Oliver Sacks said, "The first act of medicine is listening to a personal story." But hasn't the clinician's ear lost much of its importance now that procedures and machines can give us more direct access to pathology?
In this Richardson Lecture, physician and poet John Coulehan affirms the importance of the clinician's aural attention in the clinical encounter and considers three aspects of the metaphorical clinical ear. First, listening to patients, an active process with vertical (deep listening) and horizontal (narrative) dimensions. Second, listening to the heart, the reflective core of clinical practice. And, finally, hearing the resonance of our own healing words. In medicine, the word can be an instrument of healing.
Co-presented with the Office of Quality and Performance Improvement, UVA Health System
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has brought transformational changes to the healthcare system, including, in some ACA programs, movement away from a pay-for-volume system to pay-for-performance or outcome. Three programs exemplify this approach: readmission penalties, no payment for selected hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), and value-based purchasing. To date, the HAC nonpayment program has targeted prevention of central-line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, selected surgical site infections, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile infections. With better understanding, improved procedural practices, and closer monitoring, more of these infections are proving preventable; infection rates, including for MRSA, have dramatically decreased. In this Medical Center Hour, distinguished medical epidemiologist Dr. William Jarvis discusses these successes, including their financial implications, and how further collaboration between clinicians and infection control programs can prevent even more hospital-acquired conditions.
The Hayden-Farr Lecture in Epidemiology and Virology/Medical Grand Rounds
Co-presented with the Department of Medicine, UVA
Nalini Nadkarni is known as "The Queen of the Rainforest Canopy," being a pioneer in the field of forest canopy research and in public engagement about the plants and animals that live in the treetops. Her interest in rainforest dynamics and in the response of rainforests to disturbances such as harvesting, fire, and climate change has led her to invite input from experts in diverse other fields that also study disruption and recovery--economics, neuroscience, refugee studies, human development, and traffic engineering, to name a few. Exchanges with these experts have given Professor Nadkarni novel insights into theory and models that foster better understanding of disturbance, recovery, and resilience.
Unexpectedly, in 2015, this work also proved personally useful as Professor Nadkarni recovered from extensive trauma sustained when she fell 50 feet from the top of a tree while doing forest canopy fieldwork. In this Medical Center Hour/Medical Grand Rounds, she shares her insights and offers applications for medicine--especially, to the specifics of critical care, and, more generally, to healing.
Medical Grand Rounds / A John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture
Co-presented with the Department of Medicine
The caregiver—whether a family member pressed into service or an underpaid home-care aide—is a representative figure of our time. This status is paradoxical because actual caregivers (so often female) do their work largely out of sight and almost in secret. It is an uncanny representative figure whom we do not see.
Writer and scholar David Morris spent over a decade as caregiver for his late wife, Ruth, a medical librarian who in her mid-fifties began to show signs of dementia, most likely earlier-onset Alzheimer’s disease. In this Medical Center, Morris describes his experience but also uses his personal caregiving as a fulcrum for opening up larger questions about what biomedicine often overlooks in its molecular vision of illness. Desire is the neglected force that Morris sees as basic to illness, and it is the role of desire in illness that he seeks to clarify. Desire, it turns out, also offers an unanticipated common ground where health-care professionals—caregivers too in their medical role—may meet with patients and families in mutual, richer understanding.
A John F. Anderson Memorial Lecture
This video shows an animated flythrough of the gardens and garden house at the Anne Spencer House, Lynchburg, Va.; 3D pointcloud data was collected with FARO Focus 3D laser scanners; data processed with FARO Scene v.2023.0.1; animation produced with Autodesk ReCap v.2024;
It's Love Data Week! At UVA Library’s Research Data Services we help researchers understand how to keep their data organized and well-managed. For Love Data Week 2025, we talked to Kristen Schwendinger, Director of Research Integrity and Ethics at UVA’s Office of the Vice President for Research, to help us understand the intersection of data management and research integrity.
In this podcast, she provides research ethics advice that benefits all data stakeholders. There is a related blog post at UVA Library that includes links and associated resources.
Aaron Eichorst shares his experiences growing up as a Mennonite and his complicated relationship with the Mennonite Church after coming out. He discusses the gay community in Charlottesville and several gay bars that are now closed, including the Silver Fox, Club 216, and Escafe. Aaron also describes his experiences as an art teacher and deciding when and how to be out with his coworkers and students.
Claire Kaplan is a lesbian who worked in the Maxine Platzer Lynn's Women's Center at the University of Virginia for a long time. In this interview, she discusses her work at UVA, including her role in founding UVA Pride (the first group for LGBTQ+ employees at UVA). She also shares her story of coming out and her activism in Los Angeles before coming to Virginia. Additionally, she discusses her Jewish identity and her memories of the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. She describes the process of adopting her daughter with her wife and her experiences with the Charlottesville and UVA queer communities more broadly.
Catherine Gillespie and Andre Hakes are a married lesbian couple who live in Charlottesville. In their interview, they discuss the process of adopting their child and their protracted fight for custody in the legal system. They were the first couple to get married in Charlottesville when it became legal in 2014, and their marriage followed years of activism around marriage that they describe. They also share their experiences of queer community in Charlottesville and discuss gender presentation and transgender issues today.
Charlene Green is a Black lesbian who came to Charlottesville in the late 1980s to attend the University of Virginia for graduate school. In her interview, she discusses her experiences coming out, especially as a Black woman at a women's college, and her experiences with the Black gay community in Charlottesville. Charlene has held a number of jobs in the Charlottesville area, including with Albemarle County Public Schools and the City of Charlottesville's Human Rights Commission, and she discusses her time in those roles.
Charley Burton is a Black trans man from North Garden, VA, just outside of Charlottesville. He tells his story of growing up in a rural Black community, then struggling with his gender and sexuality and recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Charley transitioned as an older person, and he discusses his transition process and his work creating community for other Black trans people in the Charlottesville area. He speaks about the murder of Sage Smith, a young Black trans woman in Charlottesville, and about becoming a Black man, especially after the Unite the Right rally of August 2017.
Alan Cohn and Joe Montoya are a gay couple - one of the first to be legally married in Charlottesville in 2014. They discuss how they met and how they each grew into their identities. They moved to Charlottesville in 1991 for professional opportunities, and they describe their experiences with the Charlottesville queer community. They discuss the process of having a child via surrogate and the legal complications around custody, including the decision to get married as soon as it became legal.
Oral history interview with UVA Law professor and alum D. Ruth Buck (1985) who recalls her time as a law student and discusses her experiences teaching Legal Research and Writing.
Oral history interview with Christopher Slobogin, class of 1977, regarding his work as ILPPP’s second mental health law fellow. Slobogin discusses the founding years of the institute, his work with the Western State Hospital and Forensic Psychiatry Clinic in the late 1970s, and the impact of ILPPP on his scholarship and career.
Oral history interview with John Petrila, class of 1976, regarding his work as ILPPP’s first mental health law fellow. Petrila discusses the founding years of the institute and its impact on his career.
Oral history interview with Janet I. Warren regarding her involvement with the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy starting in 1981. She discusses her work providing training on conducting forensic evaluations for the courts, serving as the UVA liaison to the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit, and conducting research for the Boy Scouts of America. She is now Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at UVA.
Oral history interview with Paul Appelbaum regarding his work with the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy. Appelbaum founded the Law & Psychiatry program at the University of Massachusetts in 1985 and has worked closely with ILPPP since that time. Appelbaum is now the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law and director of the Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia University.
Oral history interview with UVA Law professor John T. Monahan regarding his work with the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy. Monahan, a psychologist, was hired to teach at the Law School in 1980 and has worked closely with Richard J. Bonnie and ILPPP since then. He has directed two research networks for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation related to mental health law.
Oral history interview with UVA Law alum (1969) and professor emeritus Richard J. Bonnie in which he recalls the early years of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy and the budding field of mental health law during the 1970s.
Oral history interview with W. Lawrence Fitch regarding his work with the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy in the 1980s and 1990s as well as the institute’s impact on the field of mental health law. From 1982-1994, Fitch served as an associate professor at UVA Law and director of the Forensic Evaluation Training and Research Center at the institute.
Fred Reno interviews Aileen Sevier, the Vice President of Strategy & Marketing for Early Mountain Vineyards. They discuss how her career pivoted into the wine industry, her approach to Wine Clubs, the process of sitting for the Master of Wine diploma, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Andrew Hodson, the owner and founder of Veritas Vineyard and Winery. They discuss his journey to found his winery and make a mark on Virginia winemaking with the help of his family.
Fred Reno interviews Christine, Dennis, and Nathan Vrooman of Ankida Ridge Vineyards. They discuss their journey to plant a vineyard, create delicious wines, and their approach to sustainable farming.
Fred Reno interviews Bruce Zoecklein, Professor Emeritus of Enology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. They discuss his early career and his move from teaching in California to teaching in Virginia. They also discuss his thoughts on hybrid grapes, the differences between wine growing on the west and east coast, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Ben Jordan, the winemaker for Early Mountain Vineyards. They discuss how his wine career moved from California to Virginia, his thoughts on hybrid grapes, Early Mountain Vineyard’s Petit Manseng, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Chelsey Blevins, the winemaker at Fifty-Third Winery and Vineyard. They discuss her entry into the wine industry, some of the notable Virginia winemakers she has worked with, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Bill Curtis, owner of Tastings Restaurant, Wine Bar and Wine Shop in Charlottesville, Virginia. They discuss his approach to cooking, the pioneers of Virginia winegrowing, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Chris Hill, a noted and accomplished Viticulturalist in Virginia. Some of the notable vineyards Chris Hill has partnered with are Michael Shaps Winery, Pollack Vineyards, Barren Ridge Vineyards, Veritas Vineyard and Winery, King Family Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Lovingston Winery, and Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards.
Fred Reno interviews the minds behind Common Wealth Crush Company. Ben Jordan, Tim Jordan, and Patt Eagan discuss their beginnings in the wine industry and what led them to open a winemaker studio in downtown Waynesboro, Virginia.
Fred Reno interviews Claude Thibaut, the founder and winemaker of Thibaut-Janisson. They discuss his connections to Champagne and his insights into the Virginia wine-growing industry during the early 2000s, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Chris Pearmund, the owner of Pearmund Cellars. They discuss how he started in the wine industry, his journey to learning about wine and winemaking, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Cory Craighill, of Septenary Winery, and Ashleigh White, of Glen Manor Vineyards. They discuss the beginnings of their careers in the wine industry, in addition to their opinions on the present and future of Virginia wines, while providing a perspective on the industry from the younger generation.
Fred Reno interviews Damien Blanchon, the winemaker and vineyard manager of Afton Mountain Vineyards. They discuss his journey to discovering wine, his unique approach to vineyard management, and more.
This is the final part of Fred Reno’s interviews about Dennis Horton after his passing. Dennis Horton was a leader of Virginia viticulture and the founder of Horton Vineyards. In this episode, Fred Reno interviews Sharon Horton (Dennis’ wife), Shannon Horton (their daughter), and Caitlin Horton (their granddaughter) as they reflect on Dennis and his legacy.
This is the second part of Fred Reno’s interviews with Virginia wine professionals about Dennis Horton after his passing. Dennis Horton was a leader of Virginia viticulture and the founder of Horton Vineyards. In this episode, Fred Reno interviews Jenni McCloud, Luca Paschina, and Lucie Morton on Horton’s legacy.
This is the first part of Fred Reno’s interviews with Virginia wine professionals about Dennis Horton after his passing. Dennis Horton was a leader of Virginia viticulture and the founder of Horton Vineyards. In this episode, Fred Reno interviews Bruce Zoecklein and Mike Heny on Horton’s legacy.
Fred Reno interviews Gabriele Rausse, who the New York Times calls the father of the modern-day Virginia wine industry. Rausse describes the early beginnings of what is a 44-year journey in wine making and propagating plants. He recounts how he came to Virginia to help the Zonin family establish Barboursville Vineyards and make a significant contribution to the growth and quality of Virginia wine production.
Fred Reno interviews Elizabeth & Tony Smith, owners of Afton Mountain Vineyards. They discuss the process of selecting a site to plant, the history of the role of winemaker at Afton Mountain Vineyards, their purchase of the Historic Brand label of The Monticello Wine Company, and more.
In this second and final segment of Fred Reno’s interview with Gabriele, they dig deeper into the reasons why Rausse left Jefferson Vineyard in 1995 and took the position of Director of the Grounds and Gardens at Monticello.
Fred Reno interviews Jake Busching of Jake Busching Wines and Hark Vineyards. They discuss his work for Jefferson Vineyards, his work with Chris Hill and Aaron Hark, his affection for working with Cabernet Franc, and more.
Fred Reno interviews Jason Murray, the owner and winemaker for Arterra Winery. They discuss his approach to growing and making “Clean Wine,” and much more.
Fred Reno interviews Jenni McCloud, owner of Chrysalis Vineyards at the AG District. They discuss the background and history of the Norton grape, which was propagated in Richmond, Virginia in the 1820s. They also discuss her commitment to the land and how the Ag District became an entity recognized by the state.
Fred Reno interviews Jeff White, the winemaker and founder of Glen Manor Vineyards. They discuss his work with Professor Tony Wolf and Jim Law, the importance of elevation for vineyard sites in Virginia, working with his niece, and more.
