The Collegium Institute invites your application for the Spring 2022 Fellowship program in Medical Humanities. The program welcomes a small cohort of student fellows each semester to participate in a six-session luncheon discussion series held in Houston Hall.
The discussions will be facilitated by academic and clinical professionals including physicians, philosophers, psychologists, theologians, historians, journalists, and public policy specialists. Among the questions to be raised are: Why medical humanities? What are the core values of medical practice, and have they changed over time? What is wellness in a holistic sense? How can a profession focused on health deal with death? And how can art and storytelling impact the patient experience? By the end of the fellowship, each participant will be guided to produce a one page statement of their philosophy of clinical practice.
Schedule: Wednesdays from 12pm–1pm EST
January 26: Introduction to Medical Humanities with Dr. Stacey Ake (Co-Director, Drexel University’s Medical Humanities Program) and Dr. Ralph Rosen (Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania)
February 9: Prose, Art, and Aesthetic in Medicine with Dr. Lyndsay Hoy (Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Critical Care for Penn Medicine) and Mr. Adam Rizzo (Coordinator of College and Pre-Professional Programs and Museum Educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art)
February 23: Wellness and Spirituality with Dr. Thomas Kolon (Medical Director of Informatics Education in the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and Dr. Philip Gehrman (Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania)
March 16: Healthy Dying: Mortality and Human Flourishing with Dr. Kristen Rock (Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania)
March 30: The Patient/Physician Relationship with Dr. Jim Callahan (Associate Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and Dr. Horace Delisser (Associate Professor of Medicine for Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania)
April 20: The End of Medicine with Dr. Annique Hogan (Pediatrician in the Division of General Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and Dr. Margaret Hogan (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Portland)
If you have any questions about the fellowship, please contact Emmie Brown, Program & Operations Coordinator, at ebrown@collegiuminstitute.org.
Medical Humanities Fellows
Caroline Conlan
Caroline Conlan (C’25) is in year MS1 at the Perelman School of Medicine. She is from Bethesda, Maryland, and earned her undergraduate degree in Biostatistics and Biology from the University of Virginia. She enjoys baking, swing dancing, skiing, and playing ukulele in my free time.
Emily Gleason
Emily is a first-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine and is passionate about women’s health, art and humanities in medicine, and reducing disparities in healthcare and healthcare access, particularly among refugee and immigrant patient populations. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2019, with a Bachelors of Arts in anthropology and minors in biology and Latin American studies. Prior to beginning medical school, she was a Fulbright research fellow in Medellín, Colombia and worked as a patient care coordinator at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.
Christine Kong
Christine (C’24) is a sophomore in the College at Penn studying Health and Societies and Biology. She is interested in the intersection of medicine with anthropology, ethics, history, and music. She is looking forward to insightful discussions with other fellows!
Vina Tran
Vina (C'25) is a freshman intending to double major in nutrition science and psychology. She is an aspiring nutritional psychiatrist, driven by the curiosity to understand the connection between the brain and gut and the goal to decrease mental health disparities between marginalized communities. Vina was born and raised in LA and has an undying love for palm trees, the smell of the ocean, and sunsets.
Jennifer Deng
Jennifer’s (C’25) interests in art first stemmed in high school when she was apart of an art club that helped fundraise for non-profit organizations. Bioethics was something she didn’t explore until my first semester at college. She hopes to learn how art integrates into bioethics.
Ashrita Nagpal
Ashrita (C’23) is majoring in Biology and minoring in Deaf Studies. One of the reasons she transferred to Penn was to explore health through non-STEM lenses. It's been the highlight of her academic journey, and she is super excited to dive deeper into their intersections through the fellowship!
Irene Hamlin
Irene (C’25) is a first-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine. Her interests within medicine include pediatrics and combatting health disparities. She is the co-leader for Caritas, which is the Catholic Medical Student Organization. Before Penn, she attended Washington University in St. Louis where she studied both Biology and Medical Humanities.
Ren Yagawara
Ren (C’24) is a pre-med student interested in the humanities, and could not pass on the opportunity to be able to study the intersection between medicine and the humanities. On campus, he is on the men's club ultimate frisbee team and a research peer advisor for CURF, and in his free time, he likes to go running, play piano, and watch sports.
Delia Russo
Delia (C’23) is a junior at Penn studying Neuroscience and Chemistry. She is from central New Jersey and loves to spend her free time volunteering for the Alzheimer's Association and hanging out with her friends at the Penn Catholic Newman Center. She is an EMT and hopes to enter the medical field after graduation. She joined Collegium last semester through the Catholic Humanism program and is very excited to be a part of the Medical Humanities Fellowship this semester!
Thriaksh Rajan
Thriaksh (C’22) is passionate about improving the quality and delivery of community healthcare. Through study of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, Thriaksh wants to reframe how community interventions are identified, organized, and implemented. To that end, he has worked as a health policy intern, conducts health disparities research, and is a biology tutor in West Philadelphia schools.
Annabelle Jin
Annabelle Jin ('25) is a Benjamin Franklin Scholar studying Biology and Health & Societies at the College of Arts and Sciences. A strong advocate for freely accessible menstrual products, she is passionate about health equity and loves exploring the intersection between medicine and social issues. Her favorite place in Philadelphia is the Mütter Museum, as she is fascinated by medical history and how the way we have thought about health and sickness has changed over time.
Emily Ai
Emily (C’22) is a senior at Penn studying Health and Societies with a concentration in Bioethics and planning to go to medical school. Outside of classes, she enjoys volunteering in the Greater Philadelphia Area, spending time with her roommates, and going to art museums.
Christine Li
Christine (C’23) is a junior in the College pursuing a major in Science Technology and Society with a submajor in Biotechnology and Biomedicine. She is excited to explore and discuss the intersection between her major and the medical field and the implications they bring.
Ryo Lindsey
Ryo (C’25) is a freshman at UPenn studying biochemistry and is a part of the Vagelos MLS program. He is super excited to be a fellow and to learn more about the intersections between medicine and other aspects of the humanities.
Emily Tu
Emily (C’23) is interested in the intersection of biology and bioethics. She enjoys learning about health and disease through the lens of the whole human experience, including the perception and meaning given to illness. She is excited to explore medical humanities in further depth through the fellowship.