What a week we have had! As a previous post revealed, professor Rita Charon from Columbia University was appointed Honorary Doctor at the Faculty of Medicine this year: May we present: A very special honoris causa – Birgit Rausing Centre for Medical Humanities (lu.se)
When we started preparing for her visit to Lund, we focused on the conferment ceremony, the highlight of the academic year in Lund, filled with traditions dating back to the 17th century and symbols dating back to… well, ancient Greece. The whole ceremony (approx. 4 hours long) is held in Latin, in the beautiful, newly renovated, 900-year-old (this year!) cathedral in Lund.
But Rita said: “Put me to work” so – eh – we did. Her programme ended up containing:
- talk for MultiHelix ThinkTank;
- lecture in a huge auditorium Understanding the sensitivities of body and mind: Open lecture with the 2023 honorary doctors of the Faculty of Medicine | Faculty of Medicine, Lund University;
- lunch with faculty leadership;
- meeting with Birgit Rausing Centre for Medical Humanities boards members;
- meeting with Future Faculty;
- rehearsal for the ceremony;
- dinner with faculty leadership and distinguished guests;
and then – the actual conferment ceremony today, which will be followed by the dinner for about 900 guests this evening.
“What an amazing phenomenon this is”, Rita wrote me yesterday. It is, even for those of us who have experienced conferment ceremony (close up) many times before.
Thanks to Anders Palm, strategically placed in the Dome, we have a lovely picture of Professor Rita Charon walking across the Parnassus, led by the promotor, with hat, diploma and ring!
Vale praeclarissima medicine doctrix Lundensis!