Members of the med center community now have a place to share artistic pieces that reflect their experiences in health care, whether through fiction, non-fiction, poetry, paintings, illustrations or cartoons.
The Art of Medicine magazine is a publication organized by the UNMC chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. The magazine aims to provide a space for health care workers, faculty and students to share and showcase their experiences through artistic media. The first edition was published in spring 2022.
"This magazine was conceived in one of those moments amongst friends, where one person says, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had something that filled this gap?’" said Thomas Schroeder, MD, a medical student in UNMC’s 2022 graduating class and one of the leaders of the project. "In our case, it was the Gold Humanism Honor Society and a magazine that showcased artwork, drawing, writing, poetry and whatever other pieces people were eager to submit."
The Gold Humanism Honor Society is an honorary given to fourth year medical students. Students are nominated by their peers and complete an application process. The society has several committees, including the arts and medicine committee which holds a weekly writing group and biweekly doodle club.
"Those groups have taken on different forms through the years, but they’ve always produced great pieces. What was absent was a place to share that work with people beyond the small group setting," said Dr. Schroeder.
The Art of Medicine will provide such an outlet as an annual publication, and Dr. Schroeder hopes to see it grow over the coming years.
"Ideally, it will be a place where more things can be available online and we can selectively pick some of the best pieces for the printed copy," he said. "I'm also hoping that in the future there will be a space where music can be incorporated."
Students who led the creation of the magazine were fourth-year medical students Ellie Rizzo, MD; Keely Reidelberger, MD; Dr. Schroeder; and members of the Gold Humanism Honor Society’s arts and medicine committee. Campus partners involved in creating and publishing the Art of Medicine magazine include the College of Medicine Alumni Council, Strategic Communications, and the McGoogan Health Sciences Library.
The Spring 2022 edition of the Art of Medicine is available to download on DigitalCommons@UNMC, an online repository of the scholarly output produced or owned by members of the UNMC community.