Symposium
UPCOMING SYMPOSIUM
2025
Announcing Symposium 2025!
April 11, 2025 | 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 symposium will be composed of 3 parts: a gallery show in the Bing lobby with art and project findings, a live performance segment and last but not least, a performance by our very own orchestra.
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 (not yet available).
View art gallery | Download program
PAST SYMPOSIUMS
2024
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
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 art and project findings, a live performance segment and last but not least, a performance by our very own orchestra.
For art and music-appreciators, entry to the event is free for all Stanford students if you show your ID at the door!
View art gallery | Download program
2023
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
Saturday, April 15 | 10AM
In person at LPCH Auditorium | REGISTER
This year, Symposium features keynote, Laurel Braitman, author of What Looks Like Bravery: An epic journey from loss to love. Laurel Braitman PhD is a New York Times bestselling author and the Director of Writing and Storytelling at the Medical Humanities and the Arts Program at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
She received her doctorate in History and Anthropology of Science from MIT and is the director of Writing and Storytelling at the Stanford School of Medicine’s Medical Humanities and the Arts Program where she helps clinical students, staff and physicians communicate more clearly and vulnerably for their own benefit and that of their patients. Laurel is also the founder of Writing Medicine, the global community of writing healthcare professionals. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, California Sunday, National Geographic, Radiolab, National Public Radio and many other places. She splits her time between rural Alaska, her family’s ranch in Southern California and Northern New Mexico.
Follow Laurel on Instagram | Learn more about Laurel's writing workshops
The theme of this year’s Symposium is "Inside Out, Stories of Radical Bravery"
View art gallery | Download program
2022
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
Saturday, May 14, 2022 | 10AM
Virtual Meeting
This event has passed. Check back for a highlight video!
This year, Symposium featured keynote, Dr. Emily Silverman, an internal medicine physician at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and creator of the medical storytelling live show and podcast, The Nocturnists.
The theme of this year’s Symposium was “Flames in the Night: The Joy of Storytelling.”
View art gallery | Download program
2021
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
Saturday, April 24, 2021 | 10AM
Virtual Meeting
We are proud to announce this year’s annual Medicine & the Muse Symposium, a celebration of the many artistic, literary, musical and other creative scholarly talents at the Stanford School of Medicine. In deference to physical distancing, this symposium took place virtually.
This year, Symposium featured keynote, Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of the Poetry Unbound podcast with On Being Studios and in late 2019 was named Theologian in Residence for On Being, innovating in bringing art and theology into public and civic life.
Click here to view a highlight video. Click here to watch the full program.
2020
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
Thursday, May 28, 2020 @ 5:30 pm
Virtual Meeting
In deference to physical distancing, this symposium took place virtually, in combination with our Stuck@Home series!
This year, symposium featured keynote, filmmaker Ken Browne who premiered his documentary film, "Why Doctors Write: Finding Humanity in Medicine," and scholarly research and creative work by students of Stanford School of Medicine.
2019
Medicine & the Muse Annual Symposium
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 @ 5:30 pm
Li Ka Shing Center, Paul Berg Hall
The 2019 Medicine & the Muse symposium welcomes keynote speaker Al Letson, the host and producer of Reveal, the podcast from the Center for Investigative Reporting, creator of State of the Re:Union (SOTRU), journalist, poet, playwright, storyteller and performer. He has been awarded multiple Peabody and National Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Presentations, performances and art by students of Stanford School of Medicine.
2019 Medicine & the Muse Symposium Photos
Click an image to enlarge!
2018
MEDICINE and the MUSE:
An Arts, Humanities and Medicine Symposium
Paradoxes: Humanism at the Frontiers of Medicine
April 18, 2018 @ 5:30
Li Ka Shing Center - LKSC Berg Hall AB
--
An Evening with Rebecca Skloot and members of Henrietta Lacks Family
April 19, 2018 @ 7:30 - 9:30 pm
CEMEX Auditorium
---
Scope, 04/25/2018
---Vision, virtue and vexation at the annual Medicine and the Muse symposium
Scope, 04/24/2018
-- Listen to the human stories, the Henrietta Lacks family tells scientists
2018 Medicine & the Muse Symposium Photos
Click an image to enlarge! (Photo Credit: Claire Rhee)
2017
MEDICINE and the MUSE: An Arts, Humanities, and Medicine Symposium:
KINETIC: MEDICINE IN MOTION
April 27, 2017, 5:30PM
LKSC Berg Hall
Featured Speaker: David Leventhal (Director, Dance for PD [Parkinson's Disease])
Scope, 05/02/17
--Annual Medicine & the Muse showcase spotlights Parkinson’s dance program
This year’s Medicine & the Muse event featured a talk and demonstration from David Leventhal, program director of Dance for PD, an international dance program that helps people with Parkinson’s disease remain active and in touch with their bodies. The annual event also featured performances from medical students including Alice Li, Arunima Kohli, and Sheun Aluko.
2017 Medicine & the Muse Symposium Photos
Click on an image to enlarge
2016
April 14, 2016, 5:30pm
MEDICINE and the MUSE: An Arts, Humanities and Medicine Symposium
LKSC Berg Hall
Stanford School of Medicine
Featured Speaker: Anne Lamott
Author of seven novels including: Hard Laughter, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds. She has also written several bestselling books of nonfiction and three collections of autobiographical essays on faith. Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, has taught at UC Davis and writing conferences across the country, and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
04/08/16, Scope
--Writer Anne Lamott headlines annual Medicine & Muse showcase
Medicine & the Muse, an annual event that celebrates art and medicine, took place last Thursday. This post includes highlights from the conversation between author Anne Lamott and Paul Costello, chief communications officer for the School of Medicine.
2016 Medicine & the Muse Symposium Photos
Click on an image to enlarge
2015
April 27, 2015
MEDICINE and the MUSE: An Arts, Humanities and Medicine Symposium
Program
Photos
Flyer
LKSC Berg Hall
Stanford School of Medicine
Featured speaker: Perri Klass, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Journalism, New York University; Director, Carter Journalism Institute; Medical Director, Reach Out and Read; author of fiction and nonfiction, essayist for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Globe and Discover Magazine. She is the recipient of five O. Henry Awards for short fiction and the Women’s National Book Association Award.
Plus: art and presentations by medical students
2014
April 16, 2014
MEDICINE and the MUSE: An Arts, Humanities and Medicine Symposium
Featured Speaker: Khaled Hosseini
Author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed
Flyer
Program
Photos
2013
April 17, 2013
MEDICINE and the MUSE: An Arts, Humanities and Medicine Symposium
Keynote Presentation: Dr. Sandeep Jauhar NYT columnist and author, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation
Flyer
Program
Photos
2012
April 11, 2012
The Annual Medicine and the Muse Symposium
Keynote Presentation: Sheri Fink, MD, PhD, winner Pulitzer Prize
Flyer
Program
Stanford Medical Student Writing Contest on Global Health:Winners
Photos
2011
April 12, 2011
The Annual Medicine and the Muse Symposium
Keynote presentation: Richard Kogan, MD, concert pianist
The Mind and Music of Beethoven
Flyer
Program
Wall Street Journal
Photos
2010
April 8, 2010
The Annual Medicine and the Muse Symposium
Malcolm Gladwell - Author: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw
Program
Flyer
Poster
Photos
Article in Inside Stanford Medicine
2009
April 28, 2009
The Annual Medicine and the Muse Symposium
Rob Kapilow and the St. Lawrence String Quartet
Program
Photos
Article in Bench and Bedside
Poster
2008
View a video of Medicine and the Muse 2008 via CWP here (Stanford students and faculty only). Log in and look under MS Student Resources; direct questions to Brian Tobin.
May 6, 2008
The Annual Medicine and the Muse Symposium
Anne Fadiman - Author: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
This was a Centennial Event!
Poster
Program
Photos
2007
May 5, 2007
Stephen Bergman, MD (aka Samuel Shem) - Author: The House of God
Program
Photos
Flyer
2006
April 20, 2006
Denise Grady: Health Editor, New York Times
Program
Photos
2005
April 21, 2005
David B. Morris, PhD - Author:The Culture of Pain
University of Virginia
Program
2004
May 13, 2004
Rafael Campo, MD - Author:The Healing Art
Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Med Center
Program
2003
May 8, 2003
Abraham Verghese, MD - Author, My Own Country
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Program
Flyer
2002
April 11, 2002
Deborah Kirklin, MD - Director, Center for Medical Humanities
London Royal Free & University College Medical School
Program