Medical Humanities

Programs On this Page

Contact

For more details about the Medical Humanities Programs, contact:

Audrey Shafer or Jewel Sheehan

Medical Humanities Programs

Department Programs

Arts and Anesthesia

A committee to promote the intersections of the arts with medicine for and by members of the department. Precovid, the committee organized spring Arts and Anesthesia Soirées and create art together sessions for department members and their families. Opportunities for leadership roles and for sharing visual, performing and literary arts. An online version of the Soirée occurred in 2020, and plans for in-person events, including a focus on diversity, are underway.

For more information, contact:

Stanford Programs

Medicine and the Muse Program

The home for medical humanities at the School of Medicine, the program provides multiple opportunities for faculty to engage with arts and humanities, including a choir and chorus, writing and storytelling workshops and events, mentorship for medical students doing projects in medical humanities and arts through the medical scholars program, teaching and mentoring within courses for medical, PA, undergraduate and summer scholar students, engagement with University-wide projects such as COVID remembrance, podcasting and more. Opportunities include becoming affiliated faculty. Resources include an online list of publications which accept creative work.

For more information contact

Jacqueline Genovese, MFA, MA (Executive Director)
Bryant Lin, MD (Director)
Christy Hartman (Program Coordinator)

Or visit link below:

Previous program and event leaders: Audrey Shafer, MD, Alyssa Burgart, MD, Adjoa Boateng Evens, MD

Medical Humanities Faculty Fellowship

A six month certificate program in Medical Humanities and Health Communication for Stanford University School of Medicine faculty. Designed for faculty who wish to build their academic portfolio in medical humanities, with mentorship in writing and the creative arts. The first cohort meets evenings twice a month January to June 2024. Contact your Division Chief or the Chair regarding your participation and program fee coverage.

2024 Faculty Fellows from our department

For more information contact

Malathi Srinivasan, MD (Program Co-Director)
Lauren Edwards, MD (Program Co- Director)

Or download the flyer below

Download Program Flyer

Medical Humanities Workshop

An ongoing workshop series for faculty and students sponsored by Stanford Humanities Center. Hybrid format. 3 meetings per quarter with local and outside speakers on a range of topics in Medical Humanities. Opportunities to network in medical humanities across the University.

For more information:

Professor Tanya Luhrmann

Or visit link below:

Stanford Humanities Center - Research Workshops

Previous Attendees: Audrey Shafer, MD

Writing Medicine

An ongoing workshop series on Saturday mornings via zoom for health care workers, led by the Director of Writing and Storytelling at Stanford Medicine and the Muse.

For more information:

Professor Laurel Braitman

Or visit link below:

Laurel Braitman - Writing medicine website

Previous Attendees: Audrey Shafer, MD, Adjoa Boateng Evans MD, Jody Leng, MD, Alyssa Burgart

Literature and Medicine Dinner and Discussion Series

Offered via Medicine and the Muse and the WellMD Center, this series is open to faculty only. A syllabus of readings is provided, and discussion sessions are led by two experts. The course meets monthly, usually January through June, and dinner is provided. CME currently available.

For more information contact or visit link below:

Previous Attendees: Ronald Pearl, MD, PhD

Pegasus Physician Writers

Open to physicians, medical and pre-medical students, Pegasus offers the opportunity to join an ongoing writing workshop for sharing and improving your writing and giving feedback to others in your group. Participants are assigned to a group that meets monthly, each group has presentation schedules and leaders. Pegasus also offers events open to the public with opportunities to read your work to a receptive audience. Events include readings, poetry and music with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and book readings.

Program Length and Participation Requirements: Monthly Meetings

For more information:

Jenn Pien, MD

Or visit link below:

Pegasus Physician Writers

Previous Attendees: Audrey Shafer, MD, Alyssa Burgart, MD

Teaching Opportunities

INDE 297: Contextual Medicine

A required course for clinical medical students, this course meets on set Fridays throughout the year and focuses on the wider context of medicine, the experience of healthcare, and the complexities of medical education. Attention to the lived experience of illness, the impact of racism on health, the history of medicine and health disparities. Opportunities for faculty to present their scholarly work and engage with students outside the clinical arena.

For more information contact:

Tracy Ryder

Previous Attendees: Samuel Rodriguez, MD, Vivianne Tawfik ,MD, PhD

ANES70Q: Critical Illness: Patients, Physicians, and Society

An undergraduate course consisting of a small group seminar focusing on topics related to critical illness – emphasizing the humanism and social aspects of medicine. Previous topics covered included palliative care, ethics, brain death, advanced directives, medical errors, social work, response during covid 19, narrative writing, design strategies for med device development in the ICU, cardiac assist device decision management, allocation of resources, patient’s perspectives, and quality improvement.

For more information contact:

Erin Hennessy, MD

Previous Attendees: Adjoa Boateng Evans, MD, MPH

SOMGEN 213

The Art of Observation: Enhancing Clinical Skills Through Visual Analysis

Offers medical students the opportunity to enhance their observational and descriptive abilities by analyzing works of art in the Stanford museums. Working with the Cantor Arts Center staff and Stanford Art History PhD candidates, students spend time in each session actively looking at and describing works in the gallery. Discussion with medical school faculty follows, providing a clinical correlate to the gallery session. Classes interrogate a different theme of medical observation and clinical practice and includes opportunities for an applied clinical session in the hospital with course-affiliated physicians.

For more information contact:

Conferences and Meetings

Local

Medicine and the Muse Symposium

Annual spring symposium features health humanities work by Stanford medical students with faculty mentorship.

For more information, contact:

Christy Hartman (Program Coordinator)
Alyssa Burgart, MD (Faculty Director)

Or visit:

The Medicine and the Muse Symposium webpage

Techquity Symposium

Exploring how machine learning and artificial intelligence can inform healthcare disparities.

For more information, contact:

Jacqueline Genovese, MFA, MA

Stanford Big Ideas Conference

Join conversations with thought leaders from academia, business, policy, and journalism as they present their Big Ideas that will shape the future of medicine.

For more information, contact:

Jacqueline Genovese, MFA, MA

National

Health Humanities Consortium

Annual spring meeting of scholarly work related to arts, humanities, social sciences and medicine.

For more information, contact:

Health Humanities Consortium

American Society of Bioethics and Humanities

Annual fall meeting of bioethics and health humanities related academic work.

For more information, contact:

Alyssa Burgart, MD

Or Visit:

The American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) Annual Conference website

Graphic Medicine

Annual meeting in North America. Academic and creative work related to comics, graphics, health and medicine

For more information, contact:

Graphic Medicine contact form

Creating Space

Canada’s annual health humanities conference, spring. Canadian Association for Health Humanities.

For more information, contact:

The Canadian Association for Health Humanities website

Other Resources and Opportunities

Paul Kalanithi Writing Award

An annual writing contest for unpublished short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry “addressing patients and providers facing chronic or life limiting illness.” Sponsored by Medicine and the Muse.

Black Brilliance

A planned annual celebration of Black artists (visual, written, spoken, literary) throughout the Stanford enterprise. Previously cohosted by the Stanford Department of Anesthesia, GME office and Medicine & the Muse.

Contact Jacqueline Genovese, MFA, MA or Adjoa Boateng Evans, MD, MPH for more information.

Contact Jacqueline Genovese, MFA, MA

Publishing Your Creative Work

Many medical and health humanities journals publish short fiction, creative nonfiction (e.g., reflective essays), poetry, images of visual art or combinations. Broad scope journals including JAMA, Academic Medicine, and Lancet have sections for such creative and reflective work. Anesthesia specific journals with such sections include Anesthesia and Analgesia (The Human Experience) and Anesthesiology. An online list is maintained by Medicine and the Muse. Written work can be workshopped before submission by joining Pegasus Physician Writers. Faculty have also initiated writing via the Writing Medicine online workshop, then edited prior to submission and publication.

For more information contact:

Authors in the department include: Adjoa Boateng Evans, MD, Samuel Rodriguez MD, Hannah Rasmussen,MD, Lynn Ngai Gerber, MD

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Medical Humanities

Programs On this Page

Contact

Medical Humanities Programs

Department Programs

Stanford Programs

INDE 297: Contextual Medicine

ANES70Q: Critical Illness: Patients, Physicians, and Society

SOMGEN 213

Conferences and Meetings

Medicine and the Muse Symposium

Techquity Symposium

Stanford Big Ideas Conference

Health Humanities Consortium

American Society of Bioethics and Humanities

Graphic Medicine

Creating Space

Other Resources and Opportunities

Brief Overview Presentation