Each year, a distinguished lecturer is invited to the University at Buffalo to present the “Golden Lectureship.” The primary audience is first- and second-year students in the medical school. The lecture reinforces the theme of Dr. Golden’s teaching career—that there is an interaction among the brain, mind, body, and spirit.

Mind-Body Medicine focuses on the interactions among the physical body, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions as related to health. For the Goldens, mind-body medicine also required a successful interaction between physician and patient.

Dr. Golden was a successful practitioner of diagnostics and treatment of heart conditions, but he was also recognized as an outstanding teacher of bedside manner. The “Walk and Talk” clinic that Lawrence Golden founded along with his wife, Nancy, a family therapist, also emphasized the importance of social support and spirituality in the recovery of patients from life threatening illnesses. 

The Golden Lecture series is similarly broad based to provide an opportunity to hear an outstanding lecturer speak on a topic enlightening to medical students, faculty, and the larger community.

George Fitchett, D.Min., PhD is a Professor in the Department of Religion, Health, and Human Values, and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Ill. With training in both health care chaplaincy and epidemiology, he is one of the country’s leading chaplain-researchers. Dr. Fitchett’s research has examined the relationship between religion and health in a variety of community and clinical populations. His NIH-funding includes a K-award and an R01 which supported a RCT of chaplain and nurse-led Dignity Therapy for cancer patients receiving palliative care. He is the co-founder and now Senior Advisor for Transforming Chaplaincy, whose mission is to advance spiritual care through research. Transforming Chaplaincy was launched in 2015 with grants of $4.5M from the John Templeton Foundation. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the University for Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Transforming Chaplaincy: The George Fitchett Reader, a collection of his research, was published in the Fall, 2021.

Time: 12:15 p.m.

Date: Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026

Location: Room 2220, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

(This will be the 24th lecture in the series.)