12th annual healthcare symposium highlights interdisciplinary approach

Healthcare is evolving rapidly, reshaping the way patients, families and professionals experience care. In response to those shifting demands, Lenoir-Rhyne University will host its 12th annual healthcare symposium, “Called to Care: Holistic Health in Changing Times,” on Thursday, March 26, 2026, bringing together practitioners, public health leaders, students and community partners for a day of insight and collaboration.

Held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Belk Centrum on the university’s Hickory campus, the symposium will explore whole-person approaches to care grounded in interdisciplinary thinking and practical application. Now in its 12th year, the event reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to equipping healthcare professionals with strategies that strengthen patient care, professional resilience and community health.

Randall Bergman, Ph.D., professor and coordinator of the undergraduate program in public health, said the day’s focus is intentionally broad, recognizing that health is shaped by more than clinical interventions alone.

“We’re looking forward to exploring the interconnected nature of all the systems that come together in healthcare — physical, spiritual, psychological, social, emotional and ethical. Lenoir-Rhyne encourages exactly this kind of interdisciplinary thinking, helping practitioners see how these pieces fit together and influence one another in real-world care.”

For more than a decade, the Healthcare Symposium has been a signature program of Lenoir-Rhyne’s College of Health Sciences. While rooted in the college, the event is open to the entire campus and to healthcare professionals throughout Catawba and surrounding counties, reflecting the university’s commitment to supporting the communities it serves.

Summer McGee, Ph.D., Lenoir-Rhyne University president, will offer welcome remarks to kick-off the symposium.

“Lenoir-Rhyne University is Western North Carolina’s healthcare education leader.  As a top professional university in the Carolinas, we prepare healthcare leaders, health sciences educators and students across our region to be both competent and caring professionals and to see the many social determinants and facets of health,” McGee shared. “This symposium reflects our commitment to supporting well-rounded professionals and prepared organizations equipped for a complex and ever-changing healthcare future.”

The day’s program includes a keynote address from an internal medicine physician and minister whose work bridges clinical care and spiritual understanding, along with panel discussions exploring narrative medicine, the role of storytelling in patient care and professional well-being in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Together, the sessions highlight the university’s liberal arts foundation by integrating clinical, spiritual and narrative perspectives into a cohesive vision of holistic health.

“Positive outcomes in healthcare depend on professionals learning from and supporting one another across disciplines,” said Michael McGee, Ed.D., dean of the College of Health Sciences. “Through the College of Health Sciences, we are committed not only to educating the next generation of providers, but to strengthening the broader professional community that serves Catawba and the surrounding area.”

The symposium is open to healthcare professionals, students and anyone committed to advancing compassionate, whole-person care across clinical, public health and community settings.

Registration is open at www.lr.edu/healthcare-symposium.