On November 11, 2004, Harold G. Koenig, M.D., co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center delivered an RPP-sponsored lecture entitled "Religion, Spirituality and Health Care: History, Research, and Clinical and Societal Implications." Katie Bauer, a Missouri School of Journalism graduate student and RPP special reporter, interviewed Dr. Koenig after the lecture.

KB: How did you first become interested in the connection between religion, spirituality, and health care?

HK: I became interested during my family practice residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1984. I noticed that many patients were using religion to cope with their illnesses, and I wanted to learn more about that.

KB: Which medical schools in the United States were the first to have courses on spirituality and medicine? When did this occur? How many medical schools now have a required course on this topic?

HK: I think the first medical schools to have a class on spirituality and medicine included Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., and Loyola University in Chicago. This was in the 1980s, although this is just an educated guess. Now about 70 to 80 of the 126 U.S. medical schools have a required or elective course on this topic.

KB: What do you feel are the most important issues for a medical school course to address regarding spirituality and medicine?

HK: A course should expose medical school students to research on the connection between religion and health, and religion and health care. It should explain why physicians should address spiritual issues and teach how to take a patient's spiritual history, as well as emphasize the spiritual boundaries and limitations of what physicians can do in this area.

KB: What obstacles often arise when the spiritual dimension of healing is introduced to physicians and other health care professionals? What can be done to minimize these obstacles?

HK: Sometimes physicians overstep boundaries and do more than they should. They might try to impose their own beliefs on the patient, or coerce the patient to pray with them; this gives the entire area a bad name. Another obstacle is the general resistance of some physicians, due to a lack of time, training or interest. These obstacles can be minimized by having required courses for medical school students on religion, spirituality and medicine and by having training programs at hospitals to educate physicians already in practice.

KB: You mentioned in your lecture that you love Columbia and were here during probably the most important years in your life. Talk about your Columbia connection: When did it occur, why were you here, and why were those years life-changing for you?

HK: I lived in Columbia from 1982-1985 while I did an internship and residency in family medicine. These years were life-changing because I was divorced and remarried during that time, and went through many other influential experiences.

KB: Throughout your career as a researcher, what findings regarding health and religion have been most surprising to you?

HK: Most surprising for me has been the ability to conduct research and objectively demonstrate a connection between religion and health. Who would have known that you could actually measure religion and assess its effects on physical outcomes such as blood pressure, immune functioning or longevity? To me, that was amazing.

KB: What is the origin of your Science and Theology News publication? How did it go from an idea to a nationwide (or worldwide?) monthly newspaper?

HK: Sir John Templeton (of the John Templeton Foundation) called me and asked me to do it. In 2000, I put into reality the idea of a newspaper to improve communication between scientists, health care providers, theologians and other researchers. The purpose of the newspaper is to generate excitement and share knowledge about science and theology. The interest level (and circulation of the newspaper) is nationwide and worldwide, including Canada, Australia, Islamic countries, India and Europe.

KB: What are some of the television and radio programs, newspapers and magazines that have featured your research on religion and health?

HK: Our work was featured in the Nov. 11, 2003, cover story of Newsweek, as well as three issues of Reader's Digest and the cover of Parade magazine. Our research has also been shown on ABC World News Tonight, The Today Show with Katie Couric, CNN, National Public Radio, and other national and international print, TV and radio media outlets.

KB: Talk about your involvement at Duke University's Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.

HK: The center started in 1997 as the Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health. In 2004, I added a co-director and changed the name to the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. Currently we are developing plans to link the medical center, divinity school and entire university in doing research, education and training on religion, spirituality and health.

KB: What is your current role at Duke University Medical Center?

HK: I am professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. I am also the director of psychiatric services for Geriatric Evaluations and Treatment clinic and the director of Duke's two-year post-doctoral research fellowship on religion and health.

KB: What researchers or scholars have inspired your own research on religion and health?

HK: Dan G. Blazer, M.D., Ph.D., who is a psychiatrist at Duke University; David Moberg, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.; and Robin Blake, M.D., in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, who was really my first mentor.

KB: What are some of the highlights to your career thus far?

HK: Being able to share research to many different audiences, both in person and through the media-that has been a highlight for me.

KB: Talk about any of your latest book(s) and why they are significant.

HK: The Healing Connection, my autobiography, is my latest book, and it tells how and why I got interested in the area. The Handbook of Religion and Health includes a massive amount of research for those who are interested in learning more about the research that underlies this growing field.

KB: Dr. Harold Williamson, who introduced you before your lecture, said you have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Talk about this experience. When did it occur? Who went with you? What motivated you to take on this challenge, and how has it affected your life (assuming that it did)?

HK: When I was 21 years old, I spent four months in East Africa doing butterfly research with chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall and population scientist Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb (1976). I spent two days climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and one day descending it. It was a challenge I wanted to do.

KB: Dr. Williamson also introduced you as a mature, deeply-loving Christian. How has your faith affected or influenced your career?

HK: My religion and faith sensitizes me to these issues of medicine and spirituality. I recognize their influence on coping and that they have value. My faith has helped me to develop research questions and explain my research findings. It has also helped me to cope with my own chronic condition that I've had since my late 20s, which is similar to rheumatoid arthritis.

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