S. Kay Toombs, Ph.D. is Associate Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Baylor University in Texas. Diagnosed in 1973 with multiple sclerosis, she combines her philosophical training in phenomenology with her firsthand experience of chronic progressive debilitating disease in order to reflect on issues relating to the experience of illness and disability, the phenomenology of the body, the care of the chronically ill, the relationship between health care professionals and patients, and the meaning of healing. Her most recent work explores the experience of vulnerability, illness, and dying in the context of intentional Christian community. An international lecturer, her highly-praised book, The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and Patient (1992), has been translated into Chinese and Japanese. She is editor of The Handbook of Phenomenology and Medicine (2001), and co-editor of Disability: The Social, Political and Ethical Debate (2008.)

Education

• Ph.D. Philosophy, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
• M.A. Philosophy, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
• M.A. Philosophy, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
• B.A. University Scholar, Summa Cum Laude, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Recent Publications

Books:

1. Disability:The Social, Political and Ethical Debate, ed. Robert Baird, Stuart Rosenbaum, S. Kay Toombs. Prometheus Press, Dec. 2008.
2. The Handbook of Phenomenology and Medicine, ed. S. Kay Toombs. Philosophy and Medicine Series, 68, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001.
3. Chronic Illness: From Experience to Policy. Eds. S. Kay Toombs, David Barnard,and Ronald A. Carson. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1995.
4. **The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and Patient. Philosophy and Medicine Series, 42. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992; paperback edition 1993. Chinese language translation, Qingdao Press. Introduction by Professor Hong-Zhong Quiu, Guangzhou University, China, 2000.Japanese language translation, Japanese Nursing Association Press, Tokyo, 2001.

** Awarded the 1997 Edward Godwin Ballard Prize in Phenomenology by the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology.
** Awarded the 1993 SPPB Award for Original Descriptive Research in the Phenomenology of the Body.