Health and Humanities: Narrative Medicine, Equity and Diversity, and Community Practice

The three dozen participants in the Institute participated in seminars and workshops throughout May. These were organized around three major fields of inquiry, including:
- Narrative Medicine/Narratives of Medicine, exploring the crucial significance of stories, storytelling, and other forms of expressive communication in how people experience illness and healing, and thus in the provision of effective care.
- Humanistic Approaches to Health Equity and Justice, investigating how humanities training can further medical inquiry into health disparities, increase cultural and structural competency, and integrate non-Western and biomedical practices of care.
- Community Practice, addressing how the medical humanities can foster partnerships among researchers, practitioners, artists, and community organizations in order to develop a more healthy and caring society.
Throughout May, Institute participants convened in intensive seminars and workshops. The Institute also features a publicly accessible resource website hosted by the University of Texas Libraries.
The Health & Humanities Pop-Up Institute was a collaboration between the Office of the Vice President of Research and the Humanities Institute at the University of Texas at Austin through the following endowments: the Holloway Centennial Lectureship, the Hoffman Centennial Lectureship, and the Kidd Centennial Lectureship. Additional support came from the College of Liberal Arts, the Dell Medical School, and the Department of English.