What is the meaning of suffering? This panel offers no single answer to a largely unanswerable question, but it does seek to aid Christians in understanding suffering in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These four panelists have pursued this question both in their own lives and in the lives of people they have sought to serve in the world of health care.

Panelist Bios:

Annika Avendaño (MD, MTS) is a second-year pediatrics resident at UNC focusing on general pediatrics and medical education. She received her MD from UNC School of Medicine and her MTS from Duke Divinity School, where she was a Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow. Throughout her pediatric training, she has walked with many children and families through suffering. They have taught her much about faith, inequity, resilience, and ethical decision-making.

Hope Gehle is a fourth-year medical student at UNC School of Medicine and a Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow at Duke Divinity School. Through her own experiences with pain and creaturely limitations, she has appreciated the need for discernment in navigating a faithful response to personal suffering. This summer she will begin anesthesiology residency at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, WA.

Brett McCarty (MDiv, ThD is assistant professor in population health sciences in Duke’s School of Medicine and assistant research professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School, where he serves as Associate Director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative. For the past seven years, he has researched the role played by faith communities and commitments in responses to substance use issues, especially the opioid crisis in southern Appalachia.

Parker Savage is a proud NC State alumnus, a fourth-year medical student at UNC School of Medicine, and a Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow at Duke Divinity School. Through his studies and his time spent in Sudan, Parker is particularly interested in theological responses to suffering in the context of humanitarian disasters and global health crises. After completing his graduate studies in May, Parker will begin general surgery residency at UNC Hospitals.