Ned H. Cassem, S.J., M.D., will speak about guiding patients and their families through the end of life experience at a lecture from noon to 1 p.m., Tuesday October 4, 2005, at Boys Town National Research Hospital Auditorium, next to Creighton University Medical Center hospital, 601 N. 30th Street. The Eighteenth Annual Thomas Timothy Smith, M.D. Lecture is named for the Creighton University faculty member who served as chair of the Department of Otolaryngology from 1950 to 1974. The event is free and open to the public. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Cassem will bring his unique perspective as a Jesuit priest and as a consultation psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School to discuss the spiritually healing role of health care professionals for end-of-life patients.

In 1966 Dr. Cassem graduated from Harvard Medical School and worked as a medical intern at Bronx Municipal Hospital, before serving as a civilian doctor in South Vietnam. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1970.

Since 1997, Dr. Cassem has co-chaired the Psychiatric Neurosurgery Committee and served as chairman of the MGH Department of Psychiatry. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Psychiatry Association, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

The lecture is sponsored by Creighton University Medical Center, Creighton University School of Medicine, Continuing Medical Education Division, the Department of Psychiatry, the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, and Boys Town National Research Hospital. For questions about the event call 402-280-1830 or visit http://medicine.creighton.edu/medschool/CME/seminars.html.