Julie Salamon

As author, critic, and journalist, Julie Salamon has challenged conventional wisdom on diverse subjects, including filmmaking, murder, philanthropy, the Holocaust, and modern medical care. Through scrupulous detail and revealing stories, she has become noted for shedding new light on subjects we think we know. She has been interviewed frequently on national and local television and radio programs, including National Public Radio, Good Morning America and the Today Show. She has been the keynote speaker for numerous conferences, often to audiences of several thousand people, but also in classrooms, boardrooms and libraries. A sampling of these organizations: the Ivy League MIT and Stanford Conference for Corporate and Foundation Relation fundraisers; Health Care Leaders of New York; New York Academy of Medicine; the national convention of Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The Metro Health Foundation in Cleveland, Winston-Salem Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, dozens of UJA groups as well as churches, synagogues, universities, medical schools and lower schools.

RECENT TOPICS:
HOSPITAL resulted from the rare opportunity Julie Salamon was given to spend a year observing the inner workings of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, a large, urban hospital where sixty-seven languages are spoken. She came to understand the multiplicity of demands on the system and on the people working within it: technological, cultural, spiritual, psychological, financial, bureaucratic--and, yes, medical. Even as she learned about factionalism and petty quarrels, as well as the industrial nature of modern medicine, she was struck by the desire of the medical people and staff to find meaning in their work--and by their desire to make the system better. Salamon addresses crucial questions about modern medical care, including: Is there a way to foster respect between medical professionals, and between doctors and nurses and their patients? How can hospital management help people working in the hospital improve systems that will make the experience less frightening and frustrating for patients and their families?

RAMBAM’s LADDER has attracted wide attention in the philanthropic world and has been translated into Portuguese, Chinese and Dutch. Using the text as a springboard, Salamon has become a sought-after speaker through her engaging, provocative examination of the ethical, emotional and practical issues surrounding the deceptively simple desire to do good. The debate about the role of philanthropy and charity in a civil society is even more urgent in this time of economic uncertainty.