The Bridgewater State College Distinguished Speaker Series offers the college community and the general public a wealth of perspectives, experiences and insights presented by a wide variety of leaders and luminaries of our time. Introduced by President Dana Mohler-Faria in 2006, the series has presented the following speakers to date:

Spring 2009
MICHAEL POLLAN
Author

FALL 2008
David Gergen
Political analyst, presidential adviser, magazine editor

SPRING 2008
Terry McMillan
Novelist, columnist, editor

FALL 2007
Dr. Sherry Turkle
Professor, researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SPRING 2007
Bill Nye
Scientist, engineer, comedian, author and inventor

FALL 2006
Katty Kay
Washington correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation, anchor of BBC World

Is too much medicine the real cause of the our health care crisis? Every year, 18,000 Americans die from lack of health care; but even more, 30,000, die from too much treatment. In Overtreated, Shannon Bronwlee looks at what's really crippling our system. Named the #1 Economics Book of 2007 by The New York Times, Overtreated exposes the wasteful flaws in our system, shows us why a heartbreaking number of Americans -- 47 million -- live without health care, and offers brilliantly counterintuitive solutions. "Patients, physicians, and policy makers would do well to consider her evidence as an important prescription for reform," says Dr. Jerome Gropman (How Doctors Think.)

An acclaimed journalist, Shannon Brownlee has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and TIME. She is the recipient of The National Association of Science Writers' Science-in-Society Award, and the Association of Health Care Journalists' Award for Excellence. As a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan think tank, she gives talks to the general public and government agencies on health care policy and the pharmaceutical industry. She has lectured at universities, including the NYU School of Journalism, and at conferences, including The Nobel Laureates symposium.

Shannon Brownlee Speech Topic

Overtreated: The Broken Economics of U.S. Health Care

Shannon Brownlee uncovers a health care system that wastes a staggering amount on costly treatments that do little to improve our health -- and which may actually be dangerous. (She estimates about a third of every dollar, about $700 billion a year, is wasted). She looks at how well-insured Americans get more high-tech treatment than they need -- enriching the doctors, hospitals and medical companies who provide it, but driving up the costs of health care for everyone. What can be done about this? Why does our health care system rank in the bottom third of developed nations, even though we spend on average twice as much as any other developed country? Brownlee outlines practical ways to control costs, improve quality of care, increase hospital efficiency, and strive toward coverage for all: nothing less than an intelligent way forward for our ailing system. By 2082, she reminds us, health care will eat up half of the GDP. It's not too early to prevent this from happening.

Ticket Information

Admission is free to Bridgewater State College Distinguished Speaker Series presentations, but reservations are required. Seating is limited for this event. Spaces are divided amongst external constituents, faculty, staff and students.

External guests may request two seats per household. Please email presidentevents@bridgew.edu with your name, full address and phone number. A confirmation email will be sent to you. If the event nears full capacity, tickets will be issued and mailed to all participants with reservations. Please call 508.531.6123 if you don't have computer access.

For students, please reserve your space by emailing presidentevents@bridgew.edu by October 16th.

Faculty and staff are each entitled (space permitting) to two seats per person request. Please use the online events rsvp form https://www.bridgew.edu/president/rsvp.cfm.

There will be a "check in" table at the event entrance.

Directions to BSC and a campus map that includes parking areas can be found at www.bridgew.edu/directions.cfm.

Further Questions? Call Sally Murray, Coordinator of Institutional Events, 508.531.2388.