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American Osler Society invites submissions for a medical trainee poetry collection

Check out a new William Osler Documentary by our own Marvin Stone and Rob Stone

This reflection explores how a podcast changed her perspective on a questionable foundation in medical education into a Mystery of metaphor and medicine

This is a story about stories …

Though I was unsuccessful in establishing a Medical Humanities program, I did establish a Creative Writing Program for Vietnam Veterans with PTSD in my care while still serving as a front line physician beginning in 2014. The work continues through The North Carolina Veterans Writing Alliance.   https://brothersandsisterslikethese.com/

I'd add the proposal for the wide ranging humanities program was approved but regrettably the pandemic and my retirement left us falling short in implementing.

The writing program, inspired by Osler's love of the humanities, has been a transformative experience for all of us. It's brought healing to veterans still carrying wounds of war, with countless ripples into families and our community.

Often times, nature imitates itself. A neural structure only micrometers wide mimics shapes of organisms in the wilderness that are perceptible with the naked eye. Conversely, the awe-inspiring mammoth forms found in the wild are evocative of neural patterns a scientist would be interested in studying under a microscope.

Check out Saman's poem exploring the brain and identity

Dr Fins reflects on the neuroethical and medical ethical dilemmas of a minimally conscious patient that captured the country's attention.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Infectious disease expert Steven L. Berk, M.D. will celebrate the release of In Search of the Animalcule this February.  Berk, an award-winning writer and Texas medical school dean, is author of Anatomy of a Kidnapping: A Doctor’s Story, which People magazine hailed “a harrowing account of a compassionate doctor's abduction at gunpoint from his own home. Stays with you.”  Berk follows the familiar writer’s advice to “write what one knows” in crafting his debut novel, In Search of the Animalcule. A stunning work of historical fiction about the early days of infectious disease, In Search of the Animalcule will rekindle attention to the history of the hand washing doctrine, the exhilaration of discovery, and the continuing martyrdom of physicians fighting deadly animalcules(germs), a battle which continues in the COVID era.

James Young's latest article on Osler's imperturbability and equanimity as a lesson towards achieving stillness and presence in today's medical practice.

The AOS is starting a blog! Update the membership on your scholarly activity, send an reflection of humanism in medicine, contribute a perspective piece on a history of medicine topic, give a shout-out to a colleague or mentee acting in the Oslerian spirit.  Send your piece (or just a pitch) to AmericanOslerSocietySME@gmail.com with "BLOG SUBMISSION" in the title.