2025 Health & Spirituality Lecture

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Sister Mary Diana Dreger, OP, MD

TOPIC: THE PHYSICIAN AS A HUMAN PERSON: SOME ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Sister Mary Diana Dreger, OP, MD, is a Dominican Sister of the Congregation of Saint Cecilia (Nashville, TN). Since 2007, she has practiced internal medicine, currently with Saint Martin Medical Care serving the Sisters in her community. She previously worked for 10 years serving a predominantly uninsured immigrant population. She graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School (2001) and completed residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt (2004). She served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt in the Department of Medicine for 13 years, is board-certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She completed the National Catholic Bioethics Center certification program with distinction (2011) and a Masters in moral theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut (August 2019). Sister became an active participant in the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) in 2006 and has served the organization at the local and national levels in multiple capacities. She is currently a member of the CMA Board of Directors as an advisor to the president. She has presented over 200 talks across the country and in Canada on topics related to education, medicine, faith, and ethics to high school, college, parish, clergy, and medical audiences.