Provincial of the New England Province of Jesuits to Address Students at Holy Cross

Physician and priest to give talks on ‘medicine as vocation’ and health care

Rev. Dr. Myles Sheehan, S.J., the Provincial of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, will give two talks at Holy Cross on Feb. 23. Both events are open to the campus community.

At 4 p.m. in Park B. and Linda Smith Labs, Lecture Hall 154, Sheehan will give a talk titled “Medicine as a Vocation” aimed at students in the health professions. The talk will be followed by a question and answer session.

At 8 p.m. in Haberlin Hall’s science center café, Sheehan will give a talk titled “Health Care: A Basic Human Right.” He will share two perspectives on the debate on health care reform — one as a physician specializing in internal medicine and geriatrics and the other as a Jesuit priest. The science center café will be open for the event and coffee and dessert will be served. This talk will also be followed by a question and answer session.

Fr. Sheehan is an internist/geriatrician by training with special interests in the care of the dying. Originally from Marshfield, Mass., he graduated from Thayer Academy in Braintree in 1974. Prior to entering the Society of Jesus, he completed his undergraduate degree and doctorate in medicine at Dartmouth College.

Fr. Sheehan joined the New England Province on Aug. 25, 1985 and made his novitiate at St. Andrew House in Boston. After completing his philosophy studies at Loyola University in Chicago, he did two years of post-doctoral studies in gerontology at Harvard Medical School. He earned his M.Div. from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge and was ordained to the priesthood on June 18, 1994. On April 22, 2005, he professed solemn vows.

Before becoming Provincial last year, Sheehan served as a professor of medicine at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine. In 2000, he added the administrative duties of senior associate dean to his teaching and research responsibilities.

The New England Province of the Society of the Society of Jesus consists of more than 300 Jesuits serving the Church in educational, pastoral and spiritual ministries. Holy Cross is one of three colleges served by the province.

Other educational ministries in New England include three high schools (Boston College High School in Boston, Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, and Fairfield College Preparatory School in Fairfield, Conn.) two universities (Boston College and Fairfield University) and two middle schools (Nativity Preparatory School, Jamaica Plain and The Nativity School of Worcester).

Fr. Sheehan’s talks will be held in Holy Cross’ new Integrated Science Complex at Holy Cross. The four-story Smith Laboratories opened last year and houses lecture and lab space for chemistry students, as well as research laboratories for approximately half of the chemistry faculty. Haberlin Hall — housing chemistry, physics and some of the mathematics and computer science departments — opened its doors to students last month. Both buildings are part of the Integrated Science Complex, which has dramatically integrated campus science buildings with one another, and now offers many opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

February 17, 2010|nm