David H. Flood has been a faculty member at the Drexel University (Hahnemann) campus since 1976. He is the Director of the Division of Arts and Social Sciences and of the Science-Intensive Pre-Professional Studies program for therapy students. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his Bachelor's degree and later his PhD in English Literature. He currently teaches courses in English and humanities and his main research interests include medical humanities and areas that examine medicine and health care in the arts.

ASK: Tell me a little about yourself. Where were you born? Where do you live now?

DF: I was born and bred in the Philadelphia area, living on both sides of the Delaware River in Philadelphia, South Jersey, and the Philly Suburbs. My undergraduate and graduate education was also Philly based as I went to Penn for both. I have come to think of it as ironic that I now work for an institution right next to where I did my schooling. I had always thought I would end up in some foreign location and had actually investigated overseas opportunities.

For the last several years, I have been living in Medford, NJ in the Pine Barrens, about 20 miles due east of the city. I like living among the trees!

ASK: What do you teach?

DF: Although I started out teaching English (my PhD is in English literature), I gradually transitioned into medical and healthcare humanities, which I teach exclusively now. Courses that I am teaching this quarter are Portrayals of Mental Disorders, Health Matters in Drama, Healthcare and the Media, and Humanistic Issues in Healthcare (an Intro to an Honors course I do). Other courses that I have developed include Images of Aging, The Individual and Healthcare Politics, Grief and the Healing Arts, Visions of Mortality and Health, Healing and the Arts (formerly Medicine and the Arts).

While my primary appointment is in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, I also have a secondary appointment in the College of Medicine, where I do occasional lectures.

ASK: How did you become interested in this field?

DF: While I was still in graduate school working on my dissertation, a teaching opportunity came up at what was then Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. Although I was hired to teach English, the medical setting intrigued me and led me to explore interfaces between the humanities and medicine. At the time, interdisciplinary fields such as literature and medicine were in their start-up phase, and it was intellectually challenging to be a part of these new studies.

ASK: How did you arrive here at Drexel?

DF: It's a long, atypical story with which perhaps some readers are familiar, but I'll review it here just in case. As mentioned, I started at Hahnemann Medical College, which then evolved into Hahnemann University. It then merged with the Medical College of Pennsylvania, with the merged institutions being acquired by Allegheny Health, Education, and Research Foundation (AHERF), which changed the name of the acquired two institutions to Allegheny University. And the rest, as they say, is history—cataclysmic history. AHERF had also acquired Hahnemann, MCP, and other hospitals and medical practices in the area, became overextended (along with legal problems with its leadership), and declared bankruptcy. After prolonged negotiations, Tenet agreed to purchase the hospitals as long as they had an academic partner—Drexel. That was in the fall of 1998. After being managed by Drexel for a few years, the university, then called the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University (MCPHU), became a part of Drexel. So that's how I have come to be at Drexel—31 years, two mergers, and one bankruptcy later.

ASK: Have you received any attention for your work?

DF: Recently, I've received several requests to present the work I've done on fictional and real Alzheimer's narratives with my physician colleague, Rhonda L. Soricelli. As our population ages, Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is becoming a growing concern because it is such a devastating disease with no cure and very little sense of what causes it. Basically, living a long life seems to be the major risk factor. So it calls attention to the double-edged sword of modern medical technology, which can keep us alive longer but also thus increases the risk of medical problems such as Alzheimer's.

ASK: Do you have any special projects coming up?

DF: I have a sabbatical coming up during which I want to work on narratives—fictional and real about home care (including, of course, Alzheimer's narratives).

Another area I want to work on during sabbatical time is stories about organ transplantation—especially the issue of procurement of organs. A shortage of organs for transplantation, as you know, is a major health issue. We have the technology to save lives by transplanting organs, but not enough organs are made available by our system of donation. Every year, many people die while on waiting lists. One theory for the lack of supply is that stories, urban legends, etc. that people hear make them skeptical of the process of organ procurement. We've all heard about the person who wakes up in a tub packed in ice with an incision where a kidney was removed, but other stories abound on the internet, TV, film, fiction. For instance, if I am labeled as an organ donor, will I get the best medical treatment or will I be placed into jeopardy because my organs are needed. Can people really procure organs on a black market? And so forth. Whether the stories are true or not makes little difference if people believe them and allow them to shape their attitudes and actions.

ASK: What are your most significant (and latest) publications?

DF: I didn't think so at first, but a play script done several years ago (The Seventh Chair: An Audience Encounter) has recently been revisited by several groups that see it as of value for highlighting issues in medical professionalism and professional identity. The play gathers together physicians from several well-known plays, from Brian Clark's Whose Life Is It Anyway? to Peter Shaffer's Equus, in a therapy session where they talk about their encounters with patients who have made them see their professional lives in a totally new way. These are physicians in crisis who now have been forced to reevaluate professional role and its relation to personal identity. Especially as adapted (shortened) by Rhonda Soricelli, my coauthor for the play, it strikes resonances with varied audiences. It makes me feel that I want to pursue dramatic portrayals of medical and professional issues.

ASK: Do you have any special plans for the future in your field of study?

DF: In addition to items mentioned, I am a confessed medical thriller junkie. I love reading those things. Robin Cook's Coma (and the Michael Crichton film) got me addicted. (As far as I know, there are no groups yet like AA for people like me.) So I am planning to do a study of the medical thriller. I've read close to two hundred so far, and more are turned out each year, so it is a daunting project. But someone has to do it, so why not me?

ASK: What would you say is the achievement you are most proud of?

DF: This answer is probably different than most you have had asked this question, but I am especially proud of my twenty-year collaboration with my physician colleague, Rhonda Soricelli, whom I mentioned above. I firmly believe that medicine and the humanities have much to offer each other, and I feel that our collaboration embodies this interdisciplinary ideal. I have learned much from Dr. Soricelli, and she has learned much from me. We enable each other to see medically relevant issues from different but complementary perspectives.

ASK: What do you like about Drexel?

DF: At first, I admit, I liked Drexel for saving my institution from the Allegheny fiasco. But I have had several years since to become more familiar with Drexel. First, I like the students. By far and large, the ones taking my courses are motivated and intelligent and interested in learning what I have to offer. For me, that's what being a professor is most about.

At a college level, I have appreciated my college's (CNHP) support of my efforts to make medical and health humanities an integral part of Drexel. Also, I have been involved with the Honors College since we first became a part of Drexel, and I have enjoyed the seminar environment that it provides.

As for the University as a whole, I like especially its continuing efforts to improve, and expand in constructive ways. Acquiring a medical school was a major coup for Drexel. I understand that several years ago, they had an opportunity to acquire Jefferson, but Drexel let that opportunity go by. Life offers few second chances, but this one of adding a medical school did happen again, and Drexel did not let it pass. The new law school also falls into the category of expansions designed to move Drexel to the front tier.

It caught me by surprise, but I also like the idea of expanding the Drexel name to California—the proposed Sacramento area campus. If the idea comes to fruition, it will give Drexel and its students greater national visibility. All in all, I am glad to be part of an institution that is very future-focused. I look forward to the day when Drexel will be a full service institution. While this evolution might not be consistent with Drexel's technological heritage, I feel that such a change is necessary for Drexel to become the institution it is striving to be.