The annual Conference on Medicine and Religion is a leading forum for discourse and scholarship at the intersection of medicine and religion. It exists to enable health professionals and scholars to gain a deeper and more practical understanding of how religion relates to the practice of medicine, with particular attention to the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The forum is intended in a spirit that builds bridges between theory and practice, science and theology, the academy and lay communities, the various health professions, and the Abrahamic religious traditions.
Each year, the conference is organized by its advisory board of clinicians and scholars who work at the intersection of medicine and religion. Each conference features keynote speakers, peer-reviewed paper sessions, panels, workshops, and posters. The inaugural conference, held in Chicago, May 23-25, 2012, was entitled "Responding to the Call of the Sick: Religious Traditions and Health Professions Today". Subsequent conferences were as follows: "What Does It Mean to Care?", (Chicago) 2013; "Responding to the Limits and Possibilities of the Body" (Chicago) 2014; "Spiritual Dimensions of Illness and Health" (Boston) 2015; "Approaching the Sacred: Science, Health, and Practices of Care" (Houston) 2016; "Re-Enchanting Medicine" (Houston) 2017; "Examining the Foundations of Medicine and Religion" (St. Louis) 2018; "My Pain is Always With Me" (Duke) 2019, "True to Tradition? Religion, the Secular and the Future of Medicine", (Virtual), 2021; "Space for the Sacred in the Care of the Sick" (Portland) 2022; "At the Limits of Medicine: Caring for Body and Soul" (Columbus, Ohio) 2023; "In Pursuit of the Great Coherence: Healing in the Spaces Between" (Indianapolis, Indiana) 2024; “Nurturing Hope: Expanding Holistic Care at the Margins” (Orange County, California) 2025; and “The Prophetic Voice: Creativity, Compassion, and the Pursuit of Healing” (Houston, TX) 2026.
Learn more at MedicineandReligion.com
2026 Conference Details:
"The Prophetic Voice: Creativity, Compassion, and the Pursuit of Healing"
Sunday, March 22 - Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Hilton Houston Post Oak in Houston, TX
CME Available
The Student Essay Competition will close on Monday, December 1, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CST.
The 2026 Conference on Medicine and Religion invites participants to explore how the expressions of religious traditions have the capacity to critique and to creatively reimagine medicine and the pursuit of healing. How do religious and medical voices speak prophetically to today's critical issues: institutional collapse, medical workforce shortages, scientific distrust, moral injury, and emerging technologies? How do cultural, musical, textual, and artistic expressions from religious traditions help communities hold grief, envision justice, and rekindle hope?
As always, we welcome scholarly engagement with theological and clinical questions. But this year, we also create space for experience: to hear sacred music, to share meals, to dwell in ritual, and to witness one another’s traditions. Hosted in Houston, a city renowned for its extraordinary religious and cultural diversity, this conference will serve as both a forum for rigorous dialogue and an experiential gathering.
