Medicine and Art

From this week’s resources, I learned how art can be used to help the public understand medicine better. In the lecture videos, Professor Vesna discussed the invention of X-rays and MRI’s, which provide a visual representation of our skeletons and brains (Medicine). For the general public, having a doctor describe your body might be difficult to understand. With X-rays and MRI’s, however, what the doctor is saying becomes much more intuitive to understand.

                                                          X-ray Art by Nick Veasey

In today's more digital world, understanding biology is just one component of being a successful physician. Doctors must be able to look at images like X-rays and assess irregularities. Dr. Salvator Mangione, a professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, asserts that students are often more successful in medicine when their visual and spatial skills are more developed (Glatter). It's also important for doctors to be able to understand and tell their patients' stories. Several medical schools in Minnesota train their students in improvisation and storytelling for this purpose (Christenson).

In London, former surgeon and current professor Roger Kneebone is on a mission to use art to bring physicians, scientists, and the public together. For example, he tours conferences with a pop-up operating theater, with which he takes volunteers from the audience and gives them a chance to role-play various surgical scenarios (Pugh). This combination of performing arts and science allows these volunteers to get a better understanding of what it’s like to be a surgeon. The following video is one of Professor Kneebone's talks about his theater:

Many schools have realized the importance of applying art to medicine. For example, Johns Hopkins offers a graduate program in “Art as Applied to Medicine”. The requirements for admission include training in both art and science (Johns Hopkins). It's really cool that more and more medical personnel are realizing the effect that art can have on the medical field, whether through drawing, images, storytelling, theater, or other art forms.

Acromegaly Hormone Pathways, by Jennifer E. Fairman.

Works Cited

Christenson, Gary, Md. "Why We Need the Arts in Medicine." Why We Need the Arts in Medicine. Minnesota Medicine, July 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Fairman, Jennifer E., CMI. Acromegaly Hormone Pathway. Digital image. Art as Applied to Medicine - Department Gallery. Johns Hopkins University, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Glatter, Robert, MD. "Can Studying Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Johns Hopkins University. Art as Applied to Medicine. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U, n.d. Johns Hopkins University. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Kneebone, Roger. "Performing Surgery: The Theatre of the Theatre."YouTube. YouTube, 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Medicine Pt2. Perf. Victoria Vesna. YouTube. UCLA, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Pugh, Rachel. "The Doctor Stitching Together Medicine and Art." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 5 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Veasey, Nick. X-Ray-2. Digital image. X-Ray Art by Nick Veasey. 9bytz, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.