Recently I’ve been thinking about cutting/editing and scars/memories. In two linked pieces for the BMJ Medical Humanities blog, I take a look at my own relationship first with knives and cutting and then with scars and memories. Part one: Knives and cutting Among my clearest memories of childhood are strong sensory […]
Category: Poetics
Ayesha Ahmad: Call For Abstracts – Second Annual Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Conference
Second Annual Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Conference September 27-28, 2012; Kalamazoo, Michigan Proposals should be submitted electronically by July 15—in either .doc/.docx or .pdf format—to medical-humanities@wmich.edu […]
A Poem ‘On the Dying of Amy Winehouse’ by Dan Moran
Among us, there are those who will not make it. Those who will contend with mortality, Wrapping themselves around it, Unable to let go. We watch them as prey through a sight. Cheer them as the mob below, Looking up at the man on the ledge. We are unsure what to hope for. We stand […]
James Poskett: A poetic triumph over the X-ray machine
In what begins as an ‘unassuming extension of the ears’ and later develops into a ‘triumph over the x-ray machine’, Anne Merritt’s recently published poem, Stethoscope, neatly captures the development of a unique medical relationship that has little to do with patients: one between a doctor and the instruments with which she plies her trade. […]
The Drama of Medicine-All the Ward’s a Stage: 8th Annual AMH Conference, 11-13 July 2011, University of Leicester,UK
Plans for the 8th annual conference of the Association for Medical Humanities are now well underway, with an exciting line up of papers, workshops and plenary speakers. Celebrated poet and doctor Dannie Abse will be running a session entitled Poet in a White Coat; Jed Mercurio, author of Bodies and creator of the TV series […]
2011 International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine
I recently attended the 2nd Annual Hippocrates Poetry and Medicine Symposium, which was held at Warwick Medical School and hosted by Professor Donald Singer and Associate Professor Michael Hulse. During the day, a group of researchers and clinicians from a variety of backgrounds gathered to explore the role of poetry in the discourse of medicine, […]
Medicine Unboxed 2011: Medicine and Values, Cheltenham UK 15 October 2011
Good medicine is more than a set of technical decisions and interventions involving drugs, operations or tests. It demands more of the practitioner – professionalism, empathetic care, moral consideration, insight, an understanding of human suffering and necessarily, wisdom. These attributes are not always prioritised in selecting for or training healthcare professionals, and there is little […]
Off Sick; Narratives of Illness Past and Present
Scholars from the universities of Glamorgan and Cardiff are currently breaking new ground in the Medical Humanities with the Off Sick project, writes Dr Richard Marsden. This research initiative, led by Dr Martin Willis and Dr Keir Waddington, puts a new twist on the well-known concept of the ‘illness narrative’. It focuses not on the […]
Wanted: Art, Poetry and Prose: call for submissions from Ars Medica
For all you creative types looking for a suitable outlet for your art, poetry and prose, this call from the respected Canadian journal ARS MEDICA may be just what you’ve been looking for. […]
“Language in Health Care: Inspiring or Dispiriting?”16th-17th September 2010, Woodbrooke College, Birmingham
This is a small, participative, interdisciplinary conference for users, professionals and academics organised by Think About Health, a network committed to doing collaborative ‘intellectual plumbing’ in the NHS. Key note speakers include Femi Oyebode (poet and psychiatrist) and David Fuller (emeritus professor of English). Other contributions from Angus Clarke (clinical geneticist), Deb Lee (paediatrician), Martyn Evans […]