The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing

by Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord

and

Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt

The Women and Memoir series hosted by Heartstone Books and Memoir Café will bring Dr. Alvord to Putney, VT on Tuesday, July 25th at 7 pm.  Dr. Alvord will read from and discuss her book, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear, and a reception and book signing will follow.  Heartstone Books is located at the center of Putney Village in the Old Tavern.  This special evening will naturally interest medical practitioners, but Dr. Alvord’s book appeals to a broad audience as the reader bears witness to her “struggles to bring the values of her people to a medical care system in danger of losing its heart.”

Dr. Alvord is associate dean of Student and Multicultural Affairs at Dartmouth Medical School.  She also is assistant professor of surgery and a board-certified practicing general surgeon.