This month, the UCSF Medical Humanities Working Group will launch a series of seminars featuring topics focusing on the convergence of humanities, music, literature, art and medicine.
The first seminar is scheduled for today, (Monday, Nov. 19) from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Cole Hall on the Parnassus campus. The free event will showcase musicians and a panel discussion with UCSF faculty about creativity and medicine - using jazz as a metaphor.
San Francisco-based jazz musician and vocalist Kitty Margolis will perform, along with Alfonso Montuori, PhD, professor of transformative studies, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS.) They will explore how jazz musicians use both tradition and creativity to innovate, solve problems and come up with new sounds and rhythms.
"Whether it's in the arts or science, innovation these days comes through collaboration," said Montuori. "Most scientific papers are published out of a collaborative process, and that's something we can illustrate through jazz."
 |
Kitty Margolis |
Audrey Shafer, MD, associate professor of anesthesia and director of the Program in Arts, Humanities and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, will discuss music, medicine and the art of listening.
The discussion panel, made up of physician-scientists who are musicians, includes:
* Patrick Fox, PhD, professor of sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, co-director, Institute for Health & Aging, jazz percussion
* Heather Hall, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, classical pianist
* Dean Schillinger, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine, director, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, oboe and saxophone
* David Watts, MD, professor of medicine, poet, NPR commentator, bass
* William Young, MD, professor of anesthesia, neurological surgery, neurology, vice chair, anesthesia and perioperative care, jazz pianist.
The medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of humanities (literature, philosophy, ethics, history, religion), social science (anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, sociology) and the arts (literature, theater, film, visual arts) and their application to medical education and practice. UCSF promotes the medical humanities through curricular innovation and project development. A number of faculty members are active in teaching, mentoring or otherwise pursuing
Medical Humanities.
The UCSF Medical Humanities Working Group seeks to enhance the "understanding of human response to disease and suffering, deepen interpretive skills of health professionals, situate medicine in its broader social and cultural context and improve the delivery of health care."
The seminar is co-sponsored and produced by Campus Life Services' Arts and Events. Upcoming seminar dates will be announced as details become available. The event is free and open to the entire campus community.
Related Links:
Medical Humanities
Kitty Margolis
