Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD on Wisdom & Medicine

Meet the Speaker: Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD

Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, is an internal medicine doctor who sees patients at University Medical Associates and in the hospital at University Hospital. Originally from Illinois, Plews-Ogan attended Harvard Medical School and completed residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

She has a special interest in fostering wisdom and compassion in young clinicians, understanding the effect of positive emotion on the health of individuals and communities, and advancing medical education, quality improvement and patient safety. Plews-Ogan is co-author of three books, including “Choosing Wisdom: Strategies and Inspiration for Growing Through Life-Changing Difficulties.” In addition, she is founder and past director of the UVA Center for Appreciative Practice, which works to facilitate improvements in clinical care, education and communication throughout UVA Health.

She and her husband, James, a UVA pediatrician, have two children. 

What Does Wisdom Look Like?

In this highlight from a webinar with Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, Plews-Ogan shares her thoughts on “What Does Wisdom Look Like?” This conversation was part of the Virtues & Vocations series Education for Flourishing, Pursuing Purpose in the Professions.

Virtues & Vocations is a national forum hosted by the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame in for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to consider how best to cultivate character in pre-professional and professional education. You can find more information at virtuesvocations.org.

Empathy, Compassion & Burnout

In this highlight from a webinar with Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, Plews-Ogan shares her thoughts on “Empathy, Compassion & Burnout.” This conversation was part of the Virtues & Vocations series Education for Flourishing, Pursuing Purpose in the Professions.

Virtues & Vocations is a national forum hosted by the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame in for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to consider how best to cultivate character in pre-professional and professional education. You can find more information at virtuesvocations.org.

Anti-Wisdom Structures & Practices in Medicine

In this highlight from a webinar with Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, Plews-Ogan shares her thoughts on “Anti-wisdom structures & practices in medicine.” This conversation was part of the Virtues & Vocations series Education for Flourishing, Pursuing Purpose in the Professions.

Virtues & Vocations is a national forum hosted by the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame in for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to consider how best to cultivate character in pre-professional and professional education. You can find more information at virtuesvocations.org.

How Can we Educate for Wisdom in Medicine?

In this highlight from a webinar with Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, Plews-Ogan shares her thoughts on “How Can We Educate for Wisdom in Medicine?” This conversation was part of the Virtues & Vocations series Education for Flourishing, Pursuing Purpose in the Professions.

Virtues & Vocations is a national forum hosted by the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame in for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to consider how best to cultivate character in pre-professional and professional education. You can find more information at virtuesvocations.org.

Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, Pt. 2

Choosing Wisdom: Pain Patients

Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, a documentary exploring the themes of this work, premiered on National Public Television in 2012. The film highlights just a few of the individuals who found creative, meaningful and wise ways to move through their most difficult struggles. This segment of the documentary focuses on pain patients.

Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, Pt. 1

Choosing Wisdom: Physicians

The Wisdom Through Adversity researchers, including Dr. Plews-Ogan, are based at the University of Virginia and are studying individuals who suffer from chronic pain and physicians who have been involved in a serious medical error, in an effort to understand the path through adversity to wisdom. Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, a documentary exploring the themes of this work, premiered on National Public Television in 2012. The film highlights just a few of the individuals who found creative, meaningful and wise ways to move through their most difficult struggles. This segment of the documentary is geared toward physicians.

Choosing Wisdom: Strategies and Inspiration for Growing Through Life-Changing Difficulties

We all know the saying, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” but is that really true? After all, for some people, traumatic experiences ultimately lead to truly debilitating outcomes. For others, though, adversity really does seem to lead to “post-traumatic growth,” where individuals move through suffering and find their lives changed in positive ways as a result. Why does this growth happen for some people and not others? How exactly does it happen? Can the positive results be purposefully replicated? Learn the answers to these questions and more in the book Choosing Wisdom: Strategies and Inspiration for Growing Through Life-Changing Difficulties, written by Margaret Plews-Ogan, Justine E. Owens, and Natalie May, here.

View the Event

Presented by

Monday, February 13, 2023 12:00 pm

As part of the Virtues & Vocations webinar series, Education for Flourishing: Pursuing Purpose in the Professions, we are pleased to welcome Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD to discuss Wisdom & Medicine. Dr. Plews-Ogan is chief of the Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in UVA’s Department of Medicine. She also serves as director of the Center for Appreciative Practice at UVA.  The live conversation will include time for audience questions.

This event was recorded on Monday, February 13, 2023. For more information, please visit the series website on ThinkND.