Presentation and reflection on the

1. Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine
Bearing Witness for Medical Humanities
Saturday, April 23, 2011
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College
Iowa City, IA

2. Bearing Witness for Medical Humanities
Discussion forum:
Katherine Ellington
St. George's University School of Medicine
Vice President, American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
Aliye Runyan
University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine
Chair, Medical Education, AMSA
Soumya Rangarajan, MPP
University of Illinois College of Medicine
Bearing Witness, AMSA
Rohan Radhakrishna, MPH
University of California San Francisco/Berkeley Joint Medical Program
Bearing Witness and Global Pulse editor, AMSA
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3. Bearing Witness for Medical Humanities
This forum will offer a discussion of AMSA Humanities
programs with a live webinar presentation during the
session as well as the opportunity for dialogue about the
implications of medical student developed curricula in the
humanities.
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4. Bearing Witness for Medical Humanities
The oldest and largest independent association of
physicians-in-training in the United States, the American
Medical Student Association (AMSA) has a well-established
history of medical student activism. Through advocacy and
education, AMSA continues its commitment to improving
medical training and the nation's health.
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5. Bearing Witness for Medical Humanities
This forum is a unique opportunity for dialogue about the
future of such innovative model programs and their ability
to empower physicians-in-training with skills necessary for
reflexivity, advocacy and professionalism.
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6. Our story….
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7. AMSA National Book Discussions
AMSA National Book Discussion Webinars
present exemplars, who enable empathic
care in the practice of medicine and offer
meaningful stories from their
experiences, imaginations and mindsets.

8. Dreaming and Dialogue
• Dreaming and dialogue for
an AMSA Academy Institute
for activist writers begins....
Matthew Stull, M.D.
Education and Research Fellow

9. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars program
• In 2009, Aliye Runyan launched the AMSA
National Humanities Scholars program.
• The Medical Humanities Scholars Program is
a learning experience that utilizes
conference calls to provide a small group of
selected medical students with the
opportunity to consider how
medicine, disease, and physicians are
viewed, and to write and reflect on the
intersections between these arenas.

10. Background
• Medical humanities courses and electives are offered at an
increasing number of medical schools in the USA and
Canada.
• Medical students and faculty turn to the medical
humanities for diverse reasons, including a medium for
self-reflection, a means to increase professionalism and
humanism, and a way to gain a broader appreciation for
the context of illness and health.

11. Background
• Many medical schools lack courses in medical humanities and
students seeking opportunities must turn elsewhere.
• The American Medical Student Association’s (AMSA) Academy
serves as a training ground for future physician leaders.
• The Academy’s Medical Humanities Scholars Program (MHSP)
seeks to empower future leaders in the medical humanities
through interactive learning opportunities with current leaders
in the field.

12. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars program
• a learning experience that provides a select group of medical
students with the opportunity to interact with and learn from
leaders in the field of medical humanities.
• Scholars engage with the role of the arts and humanities in
physician self-reflection, and in understanding the patient
experience of health and disease
• Specifically, the program seeks to create a community of
scholars in the medical humanities, helping them improve
their communication skills and serving as a source of support
for compassion, empathy and humanism in medicine.

13. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars program
• The MHSP has run successfully for three six month cycles, each
with a different theme and group of faculty leaders.
Theme/Year Faculty
Narrative Medicine Rita Charon Craig Irvine
2008-2009 Nellie Hermann Maura Spiegel
Marsha Hurst Patricia Stanley
Becoming a Physician-Writer Perri Klass David Watts
2009-2010 Danielle Ofri Audrey Young
Emily Transue Theresa Zink
Medical Professionalism Jay Baruch Jeremy Spiegel
2010-2011 Jack Coulehan Emily Transue
Allan Peterkin Theresa Zink
Pamela Schaff
Table 1: Themes and Faculty leaders of MHSP, 2009-2011

14. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars Program
N %
Year of Program 2009 6 17.1
2010 13 37.1
• The program has Gender
2011
Female
16
19
45.7
54.3
grown from six Male 16 45.7
Medical Schools Allopathic 23 88.5
students per cycle to Osteopathic 3 11.5
currently, sixteen. Year in school MS1 8 22.9
MS2 12 34.3
MS3 6 17.1
MS4 8 22.9
• Characteristics of Postbac 1 2.9
Dual Degree Total 14 40.0
participants, a PhD 5 14.3
national group. MPH
MA
4
3
11.4
8.6
MBA 2 5.7
Total Participants 35 100

15. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars Program
MHSP participants should be able to:
• Articulate how the humanities enrich and lend perspective
to the medical field
• Integrate experiences from this program (e.g. books
read, prose/poetry written, discussions had) into their
practice/thinking of medicine
• Cogently discuss, write, and/or otherwise express
views, feelings, and thoughts on the practice of
medicine/experiences with patients utilizing the
humanities.

16. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars Program
MHSP participants should be able to:
• Successfully explore issues of debate within
medicine from an ethical and humanistic
perspective
• Acknowledge the human experience in the
processes of healing and dying
• View the practice of medicine as integration
between science and humanities

17. AMSA National Medical Humanities Scholars Program
• MHSP Scholars are expected to initiate a project in the Medical Humanities
at their medical school. Scholars interests dictate the type of project
pursued, and students are encouraged to identify faculty members at their
home institution who can serve as mentors. Some examples of projects in
which MHSP scholars are involved include:
– Online literary magazine for medical students to contribute and share
poetry, prose and reflections on becoming a physician.
– Celebration of the Arts in Medicine, an annual event that aims to
promote the recognition and celebration of the important role that the
arts and humanities can play in medicine.

18. BEARING WITNESS: AMSA
WRITER’S INSTITUTE
Soumya Rangarajan, BS, MPP
M2, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
Participant, AMSA National Writer’s Institute 2010
(Journalism Track)
Presented at Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine 2011
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

19. What is it?
• 3.5 day workshop for medical students who
also love to write
– ‘boot camp’ training sessions with lead faculty
– small group writing sessions with the guidance of
expert faculty
• 3 tracks
– journalism, prose and poetry

20. Who was in it?
• 20+ current and future medical professionals
with a passion for writing
– Ranged from pre-medical, to all 4 classes of med
students, and even a resident!
• Expert faculty
– Dr. Therese Zink, Associate Director, Medical School Rural Physician
Associate Program , University of Minnesota
– Dr. Tom Linden, Medical Journalism program, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
– Dr. Sayantani DasGupta, Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons
– And many more!

21. Where was it?
• AMSA National Headquarters in Reston, VA
• Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Public Affairs
Center, Washington, DC
• Healer’s Voices: Physician-Poets Poetry Slam at
Busboys and Poets, one of DC’s must-see hotspots
– Richard Bronson, OBGYN, SUNY Stony Brook
– Rafael Campo, primary care, BIDMC/Harvard Medical School
– Maria Basile, colorectal surgeon, SUNY Stony Brook

22. Why should I participate?
• Be inspired by amazing faculty and fellow
medical students
• Improve your own writing, or explore a new
style of writing
• Explore the humanistic and social side of
medicine, and learn to be a better advocate for
the profession through your writing
• Have fun!

23. When can I start?
• The 2011 AMSA National Writer’s Institute will
be combined with the Wellness Institute and
will be in the fall. Details forthcoming!
• Be a better writer AND a healthier medical
student!

24. Where can I learn more?
• AMSA Academy:
http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/EducationCar
eerDevelopment/AMSAAcademy.aspx
(3-5 day leadership institutes, Scholars Programs)
• Medscape’s The Differential:
http://blogs.medscape.com/thedifferential
(several Writer’s Institute alumni have written for this
blog)

25. Writers, Reporters, Editors Talk about
Health & Medicine in the Media
Rohan Radhakrishna MPH, MS
UCSF/Berkeley Joint Program
4th year Medical Student

26. Where the Pearls
Came From . .
*Dr. Tom Linden: Director of Science Journalism Program, UNC
*D. Teresa Schraeder: Clinical Assistant Professor, Brown
*Julie Piotroski: Speechwriter, Dept. Health and Human Services
*Ellen Ficklen: “Narrative Matters” Editor, Health Affairs
*Peggy Girshman: Executive Editor - Kaiser Health News Online
*Christine Wiebe: Editorial Director for Medscape Med Students

27. Pearls . . .
*Communication is booming, Journalism is shrinking
*New tools in your doc kit: pen, microphone, microchip
*Keep a journal of your journey: collect story ideas
*Observation, Curiosity, Courage, Effect Change
*Give it a face, avoid tyranny of the anecdote, tie to the big picture
*Offer stories with hope
*Our job is to ask questions, offer opinions, contribute

28. Storytelling
“Skillful storytelling about issues of health and
illness has always served a powerful public
role, especially that of education and
persuasion: to move public attitudes and
encourage policymakers to action through the
presentation of hard, science-based argument
wrapped in the soft flesh of real human stories
of suffering and triumph.” –Stewart 2004

29. Storytelling
Oral: Public Speaking
- Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Program (1 yr in India)
- 15 presentations with video replay analysis
Written: Creative Nonfiction
- Stanford Online Writing Studio Courses
- UCSF Medical Humanities Workshops
- Local Writer’s Group: “Shut Up and Write”
Digital: New Media
- Global Health Blogs: Global Pulse, Global Health Ideas
- Glimpse Correspondents Program
- Berkeley School of Public Health New Media Trainings

30. Webinar, a tool for
• Audio, video and desktop sharing
• Online engagement
• “face-to-face” communication
• community beyond geography
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31. WebEx online
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32. Discussion
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33. When the end is the
beginning….
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