Author: Barfield

Raymond Barfield is Professor of Pediatrics and Christian Philosophy at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He received his MD and his Ph D (in philosophy) from Emory University. He is a pediatric oncologist and palliative care physician with an interest in expanding the role of the humanities and the arts in the formation of physicians. He teaches philosophy in the Divinity School at Duke. He has published widely in medicine, philosophy, and literature, including several books: Life in the Blind Spot (poetry), The Book of Colors (a novel), The Ancient Quarrel Between Poetry and Philosophy, Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World, and The Poetic Apriori: Philosophical Imagination in a Meaningful Universe. He was the founding director of three programs at Duke: Pediatric Quality of Life and Palliative Care, Theology, Medicine, and Culture and Reimagine Medicine. Currently he is the director of the Medical Humanities Program for the Trent Center for Bioethics, Medical Humanities, and History of Medicine in the Medical School. Ray is married to Karen Barfield, an Episcopal priest. They have two children, Micah and Alexandra, and one grandson named Crew.