Dispatches · Issue 18 · Newsletter ·
The Existential Dispatch, Issue No. 18
We are often invited to speak about patients as if they arrive as cases. But care begins before the case: in bodies, rooms, histories, relationships, and unequal systems. Thinker of the issue: Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
A Word from the Founding Director
We are often invited to speak about patients as if they arrive as cases. But care begins before the case: in bodies, rooms, histories, relationships, and unequal systems. This issue follows that embodied question through end-of-life scholarship, psychosocial oncology, disability and technology, and the quiet work of making care more accessible. The existential is not an additional layer placed on top of medicine; it is part of what medicine meets.
Existential Thinker of the Issue
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
“The body is our general medium for having a world.” — Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, p. 169 faculty.las.illinois.edu
Clinically, this is a compact argument against treating embodiment as background noise. Pain, fatigue, disability, gender, touch, mobility, and the layout of a room shape what a person can perceive and do; a clinically useful history therefore asks not only “What is the symptom?” but also “What world has become possible—or impossible—from here?” Merleau-Ponty helps us hear lived experience as knowledge, not merely as a report to be translated into biomedical terms.
In Academia
Existential suffering at the end of life in long-term care — This July critical essay argues that existential suffering is often overlooked when systems privilege measurable symptoms and institutional routines erode personhood. It calls for existential literacy, dignity-preserving everyday care, and “witness” through attentive presence, documentation, referral, follow-up, and team accountability. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The global cancer mental health survey — A new EClinicalMedicine study maps the access gap in psychosocial oncology: its reported findings include 63.5% of patients receiving no psychosocial oncology care and 53.2% of institutions not routinely providing it, alongside workforce and funding shortfalls. The existential implication is direct: if distress, identity, family life, and meaning are part of illness, access to those conversations cannot remain an optional extra. doi.org
In Film, Literature and Culture
Rebecca Monteleone’s The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority — A July review highlights the double bind in which disabled people are asked to manage their own wellness while their lived expertise is discounted by the medical systems and technologies that shape their lives. The book’s challenge to medicine is also an existential one: who is authorised to describe the body, and whose account counts as knowledge? choice360.org
In Healthcare (Global)
WHO Global status report on cancer 2026 — Released July 8, the report describes scientific progress unfolding alongside persistent inequities in who benefits. Its three shifts — better capabilities, better protections, and better value — place people with lived experience at the centre of cancer systems and call for a holistic approach to patients, families, and caregivers. who.int
Funding and Grant Opportunities
Canadian Cancer Society Research Training Awards — PhD and postdoctoral applications are listed with a deadline of August 12, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. EST; the Masters award deadline is August 26 at 5:00 p.m. EST. The same page lists the Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials Program, with a September 16 deadline at 11:59 p.m. EST. Check eligibility and the required abstract-registration step before applying: cancer.ca
CIHR Project Grant — Fall 2026 competition — The University of Toronto Mississauga research page lists registration for August 12, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. ET and the full application deadline for September 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET, with earlier internal review milestones. Read the current institutional workflow: utm.utoronto.ca
Conferences and Events
Asia Pacific Hospice & Oceanic Palliative Care Conference 2027 — Abstracts close August 10, 2026; submissions are limited to 300 words including references. The streams include communities and culture, research and innovations, and technology and AI, making this a timely venue for existential and equity-oriented work: aphc27opcc.com
Forging the Future of Palliative Care 2026 Innovation Summit — August 26–29 at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The SIIPSC meeting focuses on expanding access through collaborative research and interdisciplinary training, with a stated emphasis on “Culture, Communication, and Care in the American South”: uab.edu
Startup and Innovation Watch
OncoApp — Reported in Brazil in July, this app was developed by medical oncologists to gather symptoms, mood changes, adverse effects, medications, examinations, questions, and communication with the care team in one place. Its AI-supported diary and telecare features point toward a useful design test: can technology help a person arrive more fully in the clinical encounter without pretending to replace it? terra.com.br
To Close: An Existential Joke
Why did the phenomenologist bring a symptom diary to the appointment? He wanted to stay in touch with the lived experience — but the app kept asking him to rate it from one to ten.