Missouri State University’s Dr. Philippa Koch, associate professor in the Department of Languages, Cultures and Religions, has been named one of Interfaith America’s 2024-25 Faith & Health Fellows.

Founded in 2002, Interfaith America is a national organization based on “the idea that religious difference should serve as a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division,” according to the organization’s website. The company provides “consultation, training, curricula and resources to positively engage religious diversity.”

According to Interfaith America’s press release, “This cohort of outstanding educators from various disciplines will design and implement academic and narrative projects to advance a broader public understanding of the vital promise of engaging religious identities and communities in health settings.”

The fellowship runs from January 2024-May 2025. Fellows will receive a $4,000 stipend for their research.

Koch, who teaches courses on religion in America, religion and health, and religion and sexuality, learned about the fellowship from colleagues who have worked with Interfaith America.

“In 2017, Eboo Patel, the founder of Interfaith America, came to MSU,” Koch said. “His work inspired students to create an interfaith engagement certificate, and some past MSU students now work with Interfaith America.”

Research focused on religion and modern medicine

Koch’s first book, “The Course of God’s Providence: Religion, Health, and the Body in Early America” published in April 2021, examines the interrelatedness of religion and medicine in the modern world.

The fellowship will allow Koch to continue pursuing this research focus and will also support a new textbook.

“I’m interested in exploring how people hold together two things that — to some — can seem contradictory. I also want to explore how religion plays a pivotal role in the development of modern medicine and affects how health choices are made,” she said.

Koch will pursue three different goals:

• Establishing solid ties between MSU and Springfield’s hospital systems
• Conducting workshops on religious diversity in health care
• Authoring a textbook, “Religion and Medicine in America”

“I’ll create a series of panels that will bring MSU faculty and students into conversation with local hospitals and health care communities. Each panel will engage in religious diversity in some way,” Koch said.

The panel discussions will address health inequities, aging, hospice, dietary restrictions and workplace accommodations.

“It would be great to have members of local religious communities who have worked on these issues to educate community members about less-known religious practices,” she added.

Koch is aware she will face some challenges, but she is ready to tackle them.

“It’s always hard to make connections across institutions and areas of expertise. As a scholar of religion, I sometimes feel like an interloper in the history of medicine,” Koch said.

“Nonetheless, avoiding conversations across areas of expertise will make us lose opportunities to make connections, create changes and find common ground.”

Koch’s textbook will be a resource for students in medical humanities, religious studies and history, as well as for students pursuing a career in chaplaincy.

“The interest in medical humanities is on the rise, and religion is a vital part of that study. We need to make sure there are useful resources for teaching and learning such courses,” Koch added.

“What does it mean to be sick? What is our responsibility to ourselves, our bodies and our community? How can we make choices that are consistent with our beliefs, practices and values? And who can we trust with our health care? These are questions I love to explore in my medical humanities classes,” Koch said.

Beneficial to the university and beyond

Koch is confident the fellowship will provide the opportunity for a wider outlook. She hopes for partnerships with organizations like CoxHealth, Mercy and the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, as well as local religious communities who care about communal health care issues.

“This fellowship will push me, and others, beyond the comfort zone of the classroom and archives,” Koch shared. “It’s a great opportunity to reiterate that what we do at the university matters to the community.”

She also hopes to pursue partnerships that would be valuable to the newly formed Alliance for Healthcare Education in Springfield.

“Diversity is a chance to see the world through different lenses, become more compassionate humans and imagine a society that’s strong because of diversity rather than despite it,” Koch said.

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