Writing The Prescription For Compassionate Care

Cardiologist John Harper’s passions for science and the written word merge in “Intersections: Literature and Medicine,” an annual conference he established in 2010. “The science of medicine could learn from literature by gaining a better understanding of the human condition, a view inside the human soul and more ways to deeply connect with patients through compassionate, healing words,” he stated in an announcement about the inaugural event. The conference is among the accomplishments for which he was recognized as the 2012 Dedman College Distinguished Graduate. He was honored along with Psychology Chair Ernest N. Jouriles, 2012 Dedman Family Distinguished Professor, and Kevin Eaton, Robert and Nancy Dedman Outstanding Senior Student, at the school’s annual awards luncheon March 20. Harper, who earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from SMU in 1968 and an M.D. from UT Southwestern Medical School in 1972, has been a clinical cardiologist for 33 years at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He is the first Jennie Metcalf Ewton Chair for Cardiology at the hospital.