Commentary by Michael Nevins, M.D., author of Jewish Medicine: What it is and Why it Matters and A Tale of Two “Villages”: Vineland and Skillman, NJ. This commentary written in conjunction with an exhibit at New York University School of >> Read more
The Story As Chameleon: A Transformation
Commentary by Patricia Stanley, M.B.A., M.A., Guest Faculty, Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons; Clinical Coordinator, Masters in Narrative Medicine There is a short story, “The Shawl”, by Louise Erdrich, which is about story and >> Read more
Is Medical Uncertainty Necessary?
Commentary by Caroline Wellbery, M.D., Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center; Associate Deputy Editor, American Family Physician Medical uncertainty is all around us In medicine we are quite often confronted with ‘not knowing,’ with ‘choices,’ with ‘multifactorial >> Read more
The Healthcare Debate And Disability Studies
Two related items in the Science Times section of Tuesday’s New York Times (July 26) drew my attention. One was Dr. Abigail Zuger’s book review of Normal at Any Cost by authors Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove and the other >> Read more
Summer Blogging: Traveller's Joy
We are taking a break from our regular essay commentaries until September. In the meantime, there will be occasional short postings, mostly by me (Felice Aull). This image of the plant, Traveller’s Joy, invokes this summer interlude — the pleasure >> Read more
Celebrating July 6
Commentary by Bert Hansen, Ph.D., Professor of History, Baruch College, The City University of New York. Author of Picturing Medical Progress from Pasteur to Polio: A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America (Rutgers University Press, 2009). >> Read more
The Family Portrait Project
Commentary by Mary Spano, Medical Photographer, The Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center. Spano’s work is on exhibit from June 29-August 31 in the Smilow Gallery at NYU School of Medicine. Free and open to the public. >> Read more
Locating Narrative In Medicine's Moral Domain: Notes (Musical And Otherwise) From A Recent Presentation
Commentary by Martin Kohn, Cofounder and Senior Associate for Program Development, Center for Literature, Medicine and Biomedical Humanities at Hiram College, and retired faculty, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine My wife is a nephrologist. She loves kidneys (and how >> Read more
Of Current Interest
While we are working on the next blog commentary, check out a Lancet article by Jane Macnaughton, “The Dangerous Practice of Empathy,” a perspective on the art of medicine. Macnaughton argues that “true empathy derives from an experience of intersubjectivity >> Read more
Interesting Lectures Online
The University of North Carolina School of Medicine’s Bullitt History of Medicine Club held numerous interesting talks in 2008-2009 that are available online at their site. Felice Aull