Nashville’s Annual Hippocratic Oath Prayer Service and Banquet

October 16, 2023

The annual Hippocratic Oath Prayer Service and Banquet was held by the Society of Saints Cosmas and Damian student section along with the Nashville Guild of the Catholic Medical Association at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville Sept. 30.

The event is an opportunity for medical students and guild members to come together to pray and be encouraged. After the ceremony, they share in fellowship and students recite the Hippocratic Oath for the first time while guild members renew the oath. Guild Chaplain Fr. John Raphael offered the Gospel reflection and benediction and CMA member Dr. Ashley K. Fernandes was the featured speaker at the banquet dinner that followed. Dr. Fernandes is the director of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Ohio State University Medical Center and he spoke on “Why the best defense of conscience in medicine is a good offense.”

“We’ve been doing this for about a decade and it’s covered a beautiful array of bioethical and clinical topics,” said Guild President Dr. Wes Ely.

Fourth year Vanderbilt Medical Student Alli Wyman walked away with practical guidance she can apply to her studies.

“I think the way Dr. Fernandes spoke about assimilation of the faith with practice was really helpful for us and helped give us courage to stand up for our beliefs as we continue in medicine,” she said. “He gave a very valuable perspective and presented points that we can take forward, particularly with the seven rebuttals, which gave me defenses and ideas that feel helpful in standing by my faith within the medical community.”

The Guild and student section’s next joint event will be a student panel on ethical topics as well as the monthly lunch talks on discerning bedside practice as a Catholic physician. The Nashville Guild was the recipient of CMA’s 2023 Outstanding Guild Award for their successful outreach ministry efforts such as these.