James O. Ballard, MD, FACP, is Professor of Humanities, Medicine, and Pathology and Distinguished Educator at the Penn State University College of Medicine where he also holds the Jane W. and Lawrence F. Kienle Chair for Humane Medicine. He is a physician educator, internist and clinical hematologist at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. From 1999-2002, he served as interim chair of the college’s Department of Humanities, and since July 2008, his primary appointment has been in that department. Ballard is the recipient of several teaching awards, author or co-author of both scientific and humanities publications, and co-editor with Dr. Ann Hunsaker-Hawkins of “Time to Go: Three Plays on Death and Dying with Commentary on End-of-Life Issues.”
Working with medical students at Penn State University, J.O. Ballard, MD, uses the art of Andrew Wyeth to sharpen their observational skills and help them develop an empathic understanding of the patient’s lived experience of illness.