The Medicine & the Muse Program is the home for the arts and humanities at the medical school, with programs that support diversity and integrate the arts and humanities into medical education, scholarly endeavors, and the practice of medicine.

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Announcing Symposium 2024!

April 10, 2024 | 6:30 pm PT

We are proud to announce this year’s annual Medicine & the Muse Student Symposium, a celebration of the many artistic, literary, musical and other creative scholarly talents at the Stanford School of Medicine. This year, we are incredibly excited to be able to hold the symposium at the Bing Concert Hall, where we will feature the Stanford School of Medicine Orchestra. The theme, inspired by the orchestra, is “Pulling at Heartstrings”. 

The symposium will be composed of 3 parts: a gallery show in the Bing lobby with your art and project findings, a live performance segment that will give you the opportunity to display your talents on the Bing stage, and last but not least, a performance by our very own orchestra. We invite students and trainees to submit work for performance or gallery display at the symposium! Works that might not fit these styles of presentation can also be featured in a digital gallery on the Medicine & the Muse website. We welcome all art forms for consideration!

Submit your work in the form below by 11:59 PM, Tuesday March 26th. More details about the theme and submission requirements can be found in the form header. 

https://forms.gle/K36emt3RF9CyfevV9

For art and music-appreciators, entry to the event is free for all Stanford students if you show your ID at the door! Purchase tickets and see the orchestral program here

We can’t wait to celebrate our SoM arts and humanities community!

Helen Wang and Natali Barakat

Medicine & the Muse Symposium Co-Chairs


Reading & Reception 

Dr. Mike Marmor

Join us March 28 at the Stanford Health Library for an evening with Marmor, who will offer a brief reading and answer questions about The Artistic Eye. Stick around to enjoy light appetizers, refreshments!

The Artistic Eye is Marmor’s third book on the subject of art and vision. He is also the author of The Eye of the Artist and The Artist’s Eyes: Vision and the History of Art. Those who have done sightseeing around San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf may also recognize Marmor’s name from the top of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye. 

Your RSVP is kindly requested. 

Summer Programs 2024

Applications are now open

Our summer programs offer experiences for student in medical humanities and storytelling, art and anatomy, and video games for health. 

Get more information and apply! 



“In this biomedical revolution, we need the humanities now more than ever.”

-Lloyd B. Minor, MD, Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2014/04/06/the-humanities-and-medicine/



Program Features and News

01/29/2024 Perfect scores and painting with patients: Meet the 2024 Churchill Scholars

Toomer noted Shi’s “unique ability to harmonize the sciences with art.” She invited Shi to be an artist-researcher for Portrait Project, a Medicine and the Muse project she co-leads. As part of the project, Shi creates art pieces with Stanford Hospital in-patients at their bedside.


12/05/2023 Can art aid in healing? Portrait Project is using AI, traditional art to find out

Smith and other researchers with Stanford Medicine are helping patients use AI image-generation software as part of a unique study. The goal of the Portrait Project, created by the Stanford Medicine and the Muse program, is to quantify how creating art aids patients in their recovery.


11/05/2023 Healing through storytelling

Author and teacher Laurel Braitman, PhD, shares how writing can help medical professionals cope with loss and grief.


9/12/2023 Leaders discuss AI, equity, aging and cancer at first Big Ideas in Medicine conference

Physicians, researchers and other pacesetters describe some of the most promising pursuits in the medical field. In cancer, for instance: ‘Let’s kill the first cell, not the last cell.’


9/10/23 Healthcare Isn't 'Broken' — It's Fragmented

— How do we dig ourselves out? by Ilana Yurkiewicz, MD


7/27/2023 Storytelling: The Oldest Medical Technology

— Laurel Braitman, PhD, on how creative writing can help clinicians


Rally by the Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine department. 

We at Medicine & the Muse join Stanford Medicine and its departments in denouncing the societal and structural racism that leads to violence against Black Americans. This systemic racism also leads to widespread health inequalities: a higher death rate from COVID-19, misconceptions about pain perception, and for Black women, a much higher breast cancer death rate. The list goes on. We at Medicine & the Muse stand for inclusion, diversity, respect, and justice. We stand with our Black friends, colleagues, patients, students, trainees, and others who are suffering.

All of the events, news, and updates related to the Frankenstein@200 initative. 

Upcoming Events

Dr. Mike Marmor Reading 

March 28, 2024

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Sponsored by Stanford Medicine Ophthalmology, Byers Eye Institute |  Medicine & the Muse, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics

Stanford Health Library at Hoover Pavilion

211 Quarry Road, Suite 201
RSVP


Announcing 2024 Symposium

Featuring the Stanford School of Medicine Orchestra 

April 10, 2024 6:30PM

Bing Concert Hall 

We are proud to announce this year’s annual Medicine & the Muse Student Symposium, a celebration of the many artistic, literary, musical and other creative scholarly talents at the Stanford School of Medicine. "Pulling at Heartstrings"

Buy tickets here. | Tickets are free for Stanford students. 


 Stanford Medicine Orchestra 

Please join our mailing list to get involved! | Donate here to help us continue to offer this program. 


 Stanford Medicine Chorus
Please join our mailing list in get involved! | Donate here to help us continue to offer this program.

Ongoing Events

Writing Medicine: Weekly reflective writing session for healthcare workers and their loved ones

A virtual space for healthcare workers and the people who love them to write, reflect and share.

Saturdays

10AM – 11AM PST

Sign up at writingmedicine.org for login details