2026 International Health Humanities Consortium Conference: Health Justice

The annual Health Humanities Consortium Conference is an international convening of scholars, practitioners, and students that promotes health humanities scholarship, education, and practices at the intersection of the humanities, arts, and social sciences in health, illness, and health care. The conference seeks to advance understanding of the experiences of patients, caregivers, and communities as they are shaped in relation to models of disease, illness, health, and wellness, and to educate the public, health professionals, and educators about the history, practice, and study of the health humanities. The 2026 conference theme is 'Health Justice: So it goes?'. Presenters are asked to define the role of the health humanities in the current moment, consider how health education can transform to meet today's challenges, and imagine humanistic approaches to building just futures. The subtitle draws upon Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, Slaughterhouse Five, inviting reflection on the meanings of devastation, destruction, and death, and questioning the extent to which we must acquiesce.