Mission: To foster education among health care leaders in Calhoun County.

Purpose: To strengthen the understanding of health care and lead to enhanced health care decision-making for the community.

We seek:

To bring top-level health-focused speakers and educators to the greater Battle Creek Community
To build relationships among health care professionals and their organizations
To share knowledge that can lead to more cooperative and informed health care decision-making
To gain information to help create superior clinicians and improved medical procedures

Sherwood B. Winslow was a prominent physician in Battle Creek, where he was Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Leila Y. Post Montgomery Hospital where he initiated the surgical intern training program with the surgery department of the University of Michigan Hospital from 1947-1963. He was also Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery for Community Hospital. Dr. Winslow was President of the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and on the Board of Directors of the America College of Surgeons, President of the Frederick A. Collier Surgical Society, and President of the Calhoun Medical Society.  He participated in and served many community organizations and hospital boards. He was an inductee into the first Battle Creek Health System Hall of Fame in 2009 (posthumously).

As a tribute to honor his longtime friend, Norman Williamson, Jr. the grandson of W.K. Kellogg created a special endowed fund at the Battle Creek Community Foundation. 

The funds would be used to hold the Sherwood B. Winslow, MD Distinguished Lectureship.  Each year, since 1988, a well-respected speaker has been invited to Battle Creek to provide an insightful, though-provoking lecture to physicians, allied health professionals, community members and family members of Dr. Sherwood B. Winslow.  Gifts and other contributions help assure the continuation and expansion of this outstanding health care lecture series for Battle Creek and the region.

The goal for future lectureships is that through the involvement of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine (WMed), and the Calhoun County Medical Society the lectureship would be elevated and expanded to provide Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits to a larger audience of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants attending the lectureship.

You and a guest are invited to join:

The Battle Creek Community Foundation

Regional Health Alliance 

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine 

For a noteworthy presentation:

Speaker: David Rakel, M.D.

I started my career near the Teton Mountains in Driggs, Idaho where I was in rural private practice for five years (1994-1999). This is where my patients taught me about the importance of going deeper into the context of one’s life to uncover the path towards health. I then wanted to learn more about this mind-body connection and subsequently completed a two-year residential fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center (1999-2001).

Wanting to start an Integrative Medicine program at a medical school, my family and I were lucky enough to have an opportunity at the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison. There I was able to grow and direct the UW Health Integrative Medicine Program for 16 years (2001-2017). During this time, I was promoted to a tenured professor in the department on family medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

In 2017, my wife and I moved to Albuquerque, NM where I am now the Professor and Chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. It is an honor to be able to work with at an institution with dedicated faculty and staff that have a core mission to facilitate the health of all humans despite their ability to pay. This can make supporting salaries a challenge, but we all sleep good at night!

A core goal at the University of New Mexico is to create an skill in saludogenesis (the genesis of health) to balance our current expertise in pathogenesis (the genesis of disease and suffering). The origins of health require a different focus which I hope, The Compassionate Connection provides insight.

In my book, I draw on my clinical experience with patients and the latest research from medicine, psychology and neuroscience to describe the power of human connection and the ways it can be used to boost health and well-being. Once we understand this power and learn the tools that are necessary to create a connection, we can live with clarity, creativity, wisdom and good health.

Education and Training

MD: Baylor College of Medicine, 1991.

April 14, 2020

W. K. Kellogg Foundation

One Michigan Avenue, East

Battle Creek, Michigan 

6:00 p.m. - Hors d'oeuvres Reception

6:30 p.m. - Presentation

Please RSVP by April 10

Click here for a list of previous speakers and topics.

Please click here to register