Ascona PrizeWinners – Balint International 2026

Ascona Prize Winners

02.10.2026 at 9-10.30
Chair: Donald Nease

Jood Ghunaim

University of Pécs Medical School

Boldog Születésnapot

The Hungarian phrase for “Happy Birthday”

See/download the paper here

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Title: Opening The Wounds You Cannot Stay To Tend
Sepanta Sadafi

The short introduction of myself:

Hello, my name is Sepanta Sadafi. I am a fourth-year medical student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, with a particular interest in bioethics, psychiatry and the more abstract, intangible dimensions of relational medicine. I also teach sociolinguistics with passion in my spare time.

The abstract of my paper:

This reflective essay examines an encounter between a medical student (myself) and a dying Vietnam veteran for whom I arguably unknowingly reopened memories of war, grief and abandonment. It explores the tension between compassionate presence and professional limits, arguing that bearing witness is itself a form of care, but one that requires continuity, supervision accommodated by sufficient institutional support.

See/download the paper here

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BETWEEN THE FLOOD AND THE FAREWEL

by Pedro Henrique Docema Rodriques

Short presentation:

Pedro Henrique Docema Rodrigues is a medical student at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and Coordinator of the Marajó Governance Platform at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo. His academic interests lie at the intersection of medicine, public health, vulnerability, territorial governance, and the human dimensions of healthcare. He has been involved in humanitarian health initiatives and research on healthcare in vulnerable territories, with particular interest in the relationships between clinical practice, social context, and health systems.

Title of the paper:
BETWEEN THE FLOOD AND THE FAREWELL – See/download the paper here.

Very short abstract:
This paper reflects on a clinical encounter during the historical 2024 floods in Southern Brazil, exploring grief, vulnerability and human presence in disaster settings. Through the relationship between a physician and an Indigenous leader mourning the loss of his son, the narrative examines how care, listening and shared fragility reshape the meaning of social health action beyond technical intervention.

Scientific committee:
Monique Aubart
Jean-Pierre Bachman
Andrew Elder
Henry Jablonski
Shai Krontal
André Matalon
Tove Mathiesen
Don Nease
Michèle Paree

CONFERENCE THEME:

Connected, Committed and Contained

“The individual never has to do with another human being without holding something of that person’s life in his hand. It may be a very small matter, involving only a passing mood, a dampening or quickening of spirit, a deepening or removal of some dislike. But it may also be a matter of tremendous scope, such that the individual can determine if the life of the other flourishes or not.”

The citation is from ‘The Ethical Demand’, written by K.E. Løgstrup in 1952, when he was the professor of theology at the University of Aarhus.