Narrative Medicine

The Art of Attention: A Workshop for Health Care Students, Faculty, and Practitioners
Thursday, June 21st | 4:00-6:00pm
Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Participants in this workshop will be guided through a series of exercises in response to a work of art from the permanent collection of Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Reynolda House experts will facilitate discussion and explore the benefits of multiple modes of engagement and observation for clinical education. This workshop is sponsored by Reynolda House Museum of American Art and the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute, made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with support from an Engaged Humanities Grant received by the University from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Reading Group: Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
June 26th | 5:00-7:00pm
Jade Room, Footnote Coffee & Cocktails
634 W. 4th St., Ste. #120

Kate Bowler is an assistant professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School. In 2015, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35. In her viral New York Times op-ed, she writes about the irony of being an expert in health, wealth, and happiness while being ill. Her subsequent memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved) (Random House, 2018), tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character.

The Wake Forest University Humanities Institute’s Story, Health, & Healing Initiative will sponsor this one-night discussion of Bowler’s memoir on Tuesday, June 26th. Participation is free and open to clinicians, faculty, students, and the public. Light refreshments will be provided.

Copies of the book will be provided in advance. To register and for instructions on how to receive your copy of the book, please contact Aimee Mepham, Humanities Institute Assistant Director at mephamam@wfu.edu or 336-758-4028.

Narrative Medicine: Resilience, Professionalism, & Self-Care
An Interdisciplinary Symposium
Saturday, April 14th, 2018
Benson University Center
Wake Forest University
Reynolda Campus

This one-day, interdisciplinary symposium, free and open to the public, will feature an introduction to narrative medicine, a Parallel Chart Demonstration Session, a Panel on Narrative Medicine in Clinical Practice, and a series of Experiential Workshops.

Wednesday, May 31

The Art of Attention: A Workshop for Health Care Faculty
6:00-8:00pm
Babcock Gallery, Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Held in conjunction with the exhibition, Samuel F.B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention, participants in this workshop will use the exhibit to explore the benefits of multiples modes of engagement and observation for clinical education.

Samuel F. B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention was organized by and with support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Reynolda House is grateful for the generous sponsorship of this exhibition from Major Co-Sponsor Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Contributing Sponsors the Terra Foundation for American Art and an anonymous donor, and Exhibition Partners Joia Johnson and Jeff and Sissy Whittington.

Saturday, April 29

The Narrative Playbook: The Strategic Use of Story to Improve Care, Healing, and Health: A Workshop for Clinicians Who Teach Medical Learners
9:00am-12:00pm
Northwest AHEC, McCreary Tower, 475 Deacon Boulevard
Facilitator: Laura Hope-Gill, Assistant Professor of Writing and Director of The Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Asheville Campus

This workshop will present a sampling of methods for incorporating narrative into care, In February of 2015, Laura Hope-Gill was one of 30 thought leaders on the topic of narrative methods in healthcare, from the US and abroad, who gathered in collaboration with the Business Innovation Factory and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a Participatory Design Workshop to share best practices, define the value proposition of narrative methods, and co-create the content and format for a healthcare resource called “The Narrative Playbook.”

This series is sponsored by the WFU Humanities Institute, made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with support from an Engaged Humanities Grant received by the university from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Laura Hope-Gill holds an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers and is an NC Arts Fellow for Creative Nonfiction. She serves as an Assistant Professor of Writing and Director of The Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Asheville campus – The Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville. She is also the Program Director for the Graduate Certificate in Narrative Medicine.

Friday, April 28

Narrative Medicine Lunch & Learn
12:15pm-1:15pm
525@Vine, PA Studies Classroom

The Narrative Medicine Lunch & Learn event, supported by the Humanities Institute’s Story, Health, and Healing Initiative, is a monthly, informal workshop group to introduce any interested students and faculty (pre-health, liberal arts, PA, medical, CRNA, bioethics) to the principles of narrative medicine. Workshops focus on close reading and reflective writing. Readings will be made available prior to the session, and lunch will be provided.

The facilitator for this first meeting is Aimee Mepham, MFA, Assistant Director of the WFU Humanities Institute.

Tuesday, April 18

Rounding With… Terrence Holt
5:00-7:00pm with a reception to follow
Wake Forest Biotech Place Auditorium

Terrence Holt is a writer and an internist specializing in geriatric medicine, teaching and practicing at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is the author of In the Valley of the Kings and Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories.

Rounding With… is a series of mini-symposia, free and open to the public, in which an invited guest working in the field of narrative medicine gives a public reading and facilitates an interprofessional education workshop. This series is sponsored by the WFU Humanities Institute, made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with support from an Engaged Humanities Grant received by the university from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Friday, February 17 and March 24

Narrative Medicine Lunch & Learn
12:15pm-1:15pm

The Narrative Medicine Lunch & Learn event, supported by the Humanities Institute’s Story, Health, and Healing Initiative, is a monthly, informal workshop group to introduce any interested students and faculty (pre-health, liberal arts, PA, medical, CRNA, bioethics) to the principles of narrative medicine. Workshops focus on close reading and reflective writing. Readings will be made available prior to the session, and lunch will be provided.

The facilitator for this first meeting is Aimee Mepham, MFA, Assistant Director of the WFU Humanities Institute.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Story, Health, and Healing: A Symposium on Narrative in Medicine
10:00am-4:00pm
Registration at 9:00am, Reception at 4:00pm
Benson University Center
Reynolda Campus
Wake Forest University
Winston Salem, North Carolina

This interdisciplinary symposium presents a broad look at narrative medicine with opening and closing keynote lectures, break-outs and workshops, and a theatre plenary session. Led by faculty, staff, and students at Wake Forest University, Forsyth Hospital, and UNC Chapel Hill. Sessions will fall under three categories: narrative in clinical practice, curriculum and teaching, and honing practices of listening, observation, and storytelling. Also featured is a poster gallery that will remain open throughout the day: “Show & Tell: Journeys Through Medicine.”

Faculty-Student Reading Groups in the Humanities

Spring 2016: The Role of Stories in Medicine

Because physician and writer Louise Aronson will be visiting campus to give a keynote lecture at WFU’s Aging Re-Imagined Symposium (March 17-18th), the Institute is offering reading groups on Aronson’s collection of short stories, A History of the Present Illness, which “explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human” (http://louisearonson.com/the-book/).

Facilitators: Simone Caron (History), and Tanya Gregory (WFU School of Medicine, PA Studies Program)
The Humanities Institute supports faculty-student co-curricular reading groups in order to give small groups of faculty and students (undergraduates, or a combination of graduates and undergraduates) the opportunity to engage in co-curricular study of select interdisciplinary topics in the humanities. Formerly called Collegiate Seminars, the groups are informal, noncredit reading or activity groups comprised of a faculty member and a core group of four or more students who agree to meet at least three times over the course of a semester or summer. Topics vary and can be related to a campus event. The Institute provides faculty a modest stipend in recognition of their involvement as well as funding to defray the cost of materials.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Louise Aronson, MD, MFA
Keynote Speaker at Wake Forest University’s Aging Re-Imagined Symposium
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Old Age (and How Stories Can Help Us Re-Imagine Aging)”
2:45 – 4:00 PM
Bridger Fieldhouse

Dr. Aronson is Professor of Geriatrics at University of California-San Francisco where she is Chief of Geriatrics Education and directs the Optimizing Aging Program, and cares for patients through the Care at Home Program. She also holds an MFA in writing, and directs the UCSF Medical Humanities Program. She is the author of the celebrated “A History of the Present Illness,” and publishes regularly in newspapers, medical and literary journals. Her scholarly work focuses on geriatrics and aging, reflective learning, and public medical writing. She has developed innovative programs for geriatrics training for non-geriatricians, interprofessional education, reflection in medical education, and use of writing to harness the expertise and unique experiences of clinicians and medical scientists in service of health and health care.

The WFU Humanities Institute is one of the sponsors of WFU’s Aging Re-Imagined Symposium, which will take place on the Wake Forest campus March 17-18, 2016 and will bring faculty, staff, students, and members of the Winston-Salem community together to discuss the topic of aging from many perspectives. Leading scholars, artists, medical professionals and researchers whose work focuses on this vital, intersectional topic will be here to share their insight on four key ideas that inform how we age, and how we think and feel about aging: Mobility, Mind (including memory), Mortality, and Meaning.

Saturday, April 30

Beyond Looking: Observation in the Arts, the Humanities, and Medicine
10:00am-1:00pm
Sawtooth School for Visual Art

Instructors: Aimee Mepham and Terry Schupbach-Gordon

In this workshop, students will sharpen their observational skills in viewing art and reading texts. Local printmaker Terry Schupbach-Gordon will discuss several pieces on view at Sawtooth in the New Impressions Printmaking Exhibit, delving beyond the surface of the works to illustrate how the prints were made and the reasons behind certain techniques. Fiction writer Aimee Mepham will then lead students in a discussion about narrative medicine, introducing the concepts of close reading. Students will read a selection of stories and poems and participate in reflective writing exercises. The workshop will end with a creation of a journal that students can take home.

Medical students, PA studies students, medical school faculty, and local practitioners are encouraged to register.