"Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability" ~ William Osler

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Pulitzer Fellowship Winner Brendan Ross on Indigenous Medicine In Taiwan and the role AOS has played in his development as a physician

Pulitzer Fellowship Winner Brendan Ross on Indigenous Medicine In Taiwan and the role AOS has played in his development as a physician

Oslerian awarded Pulitzer Fellowship. Pens piece in Washington Post about his work

10/30/2023
Luke connects to his own Chicano roots through the Arturo Rosenblueth archives at Countway

Luke connects to his own Chicano roots through the Arturo Rosenblueth archives at Countway

Heritage and history come together in this reflection of Arturo Rosenblueth materials at Countway

09/22/2023

Drawing and Neurosurgery – how far apart are these two different worlds?

Dr. Romulo Augusto Andrade de Almeida writes about his relationship to neurosurgery and drawing. Henry Viets, who proposed a field of "cultural medicine," first met Osler protee Harvey Cushing during a meeting in Cushing’s office where Cushing was drawing a picture of the surgery he just performed. Havey Cushing's successor at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital wrote for Cushing's festschrift an essay entitled, The Art of Surgery. 

In this blog post, Romulo provides the history and meaning of his arts.

07/04/2023

AOS Medical Trainee Anthologies: Poetry and Prose

American Osler Society invites submissions for a medical trainee poetry collection

06/27/2023

OSLER DOCUMENTARY now available on youtube

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

04/23/2023
Where is Psychiatry's Blueberry Muffin? - author and medical student Hannah Black reflects upon models and the mind

Where is Psychiatry's Blueberry Muffin? - author and medical student Hannah Black reflects upon models and the mind

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

03/18/2023
Bruce Kelly tells a story about stories - a creative writing program for Vietnam Veterans

Bruce Kelly tells a story about stories - a creative writing program for Vietnam Veterans

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.

03/15/2023
Portraits of the Natural Brain by Cynthia Peng

Portraits of the Natural Brain by Cynthia Peng

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.

03/11/2023
POETRY - "A Voyage Through the Gyri and Sulci," by Saman Arfaie

POETRY - "A Voyage Through the Gyri and Sulci," by Saman Arfaie

Check out Saman's poem exploring the brain and identity

02/18/2023
“The Complicated Legacy of Terry Wallis and his Brain Injury”

“The Complicated Legacy of Terry Wallis and his Brain Injury”

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

02/09/2023
Dr. Steven L. Berk’s In Search of the Animalcule, a stunning work of historical fiction

Dr. Steven L. Berk’s In Search of the Animalcule, a stunning work of historical fiction

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.

02/06/2023

The Art of Surgery

art of surgery

01/10/2023