[Lorenzo Servitje]

Dear colleagues,

My name is Lorenzo Servitje, and I am assistant professor of literature and medicine at Lehigh University. I work in the English Department and the Health, Medicine, and Society Program. I am running for the TC Medical Humanities and Health Studies Forum because I am committed to fostering the development, community, and diversity of this this field. Taking a cue from Craig Klugman and Erin Gentry Lamb’s recent Research Methods in Health Humanities, I am especially invested in continuing to think about the methods, possibilities, and challenges to working at this particular interdisciplinary intersection—the kinds of evidence we use, the audiences we write for, the people we collaborate with. Furthermore, I hope to bring conversations (as a possible panel, roundtable,  social gathering, or online discussion/resource) and people together from different jobs, career stages, and institutions together to help support grad students and early career scholars navigating a challenging job market. These conversations might include talking about the differences between working in medical/professional schools versus undergraduate programs, and what kind of preparation a graduate student in English can get in the field of bioethics. Personally, I have found it both stimulating and challenging working for two departments/programs and multiple fields: researching in health humanities venues related to contemporary medical discourse, while still staying involved in my original training as a Victorianist; teaching mostly STEM students in interdisciplinary  classes, and then switching to traditional period-based English courses. I have appreciated learning and thinking through the practical and theoretical implications of working in medical humanities and health studies. I hope to be able to contribute to and learn from our diverse intellectual cultures. I have experience in professional service as part of the executive council and advisory committee for the North American Victorian Studies Association, as the graduate student representative (2015-2016) and future conference organizer (2021, ex officio). I serve on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Medical Humanities, and as an Associate Editor for Kent State’s Studies in Health Humanities book series. I hope to contribute the knowledge base and practical experience from these and the various service positions I have occupied. Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions about my candidacy, research, or instruction, or just want touch base virtually, please email me at los317@lehigh.edu.

A note of acknowledgement here for Jess Waggoner, whose mode of introducing her candidacy I am following here.

 

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