Dr. Jacobs Plaisimond feels a similar serendipitous connection to the work of interfaith cooperation in her career as a professor of religion and health at the University of South Florida.
“I find myself just naturally doing interfaith work in all that I do.”
“This is the second time I’ve just been naturally brought into this work,” she said, describing her involvement with Interfaith America now and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was an Interfaith America Racial Equity Media Fellow. “I find myself just naturally doing interfaith work in all that I do.”
Interfaith cooperation was cultivated in the rural Black Baptist church in northwest Louisiana, where Dr. Jacobs Plaisimond grew up.
“Despite this community being very Christian … there was this ethos that was far more pluralistic and interfaith than one would think,” she said. “I was taught to do that work as a little tike in church, and that’s what keeps me passionate about it. This idea that I’m carrying forward the work and the mindset and the love and acceptance of people that modeled it well when I was a child.”
As she teaches pre-med and pre-health students at the University of South Florida, Dr. Jacobs Plaisimond is encouraged by how the students have come to better understand and engage with the religious diversity in their own communities and are excited to carry those experiences with them as healthcare professionals.
She is hopeful about the growth in conversations around faith and health since she entered the field as a student.
Dr. Butani is also optimistic as colleagues and students at UC Davis are receptive to the work that bridges medicine and spirituality.
“I am just thrilled with the amount of excitement that has been generated and the people who have approached me to continue this work, and I’m gonna focus my attention on the people that actually want to carry this work further, with the hope that we can effect somewhat of a culture change over time,” he said.
