John P. McGovern Program

The John P. McGovern Lectureship was created by a generous endowment gift from John P. McGovern, MD. The Lectureship includes providing periodic colloquia by which the Koop Institute brings to Dartmouth world-class physicians who, by their lives and practices, demonstrate the importance of the humanitarian side of medicine.

In the words of Dr. McGovern, "...the necessity of fusing the art and humanity of medicine, leavened with its science, has been seriously diminished in medical

education and practice during recent decades. The Lectureship reaffirms the validity of the oldest decription of the practice of medicine, 'the healing art,' and stresses the importance of the intrinsic healing attributes of those who practice the art."

In administering the McGovern Lectureship and in its other missions, the Koop Institute remains committed to the ideal of the "complete physician," one who is not only a scientist, but a healer.