A public voice cultivating empathy & critical thinking in health, culture & the arts

The Medical Humanities Review ➔

A public voice cultivating empathy & critical thinking in health, culture & the arts
Illness Unfolds Before Your Eyes 

Illness Unfolds Before Your Eyes 

A video game removes player control to simulate how the lived experience of illness disrupts time and space 

ByKit Neikirk 08.25.26
Michael Pollan Trips over Consciousness 

Michael Pollan Trips over Consciousness 

Inside a Cave,  Coming to Grips with the Mystery of Consciousness  

Hands 

Hands 

During the clinic visit, the patient map unfurls, their hands leaving little clues.

ByColin Killeen 08.11.26
Summer 2026 Biblioscopy 

Summer 2026 Biblioscopy 

New books highlighting illness poetry, the toll on compassion extracted during medical training, and the emotional burden of illness on family members 

ByTony Miksanek 08.03.26

This month we focus on the nexus of and interface between medicine and the humanities.

Forspoken – A Tale of Chronic Trauma 

Forspoken – A Tale of Chronic Trauma 

Forspoken blends role-playing, action, and open-world gameplay to tell a magical yet deeply human story about chronic trauma and healing.

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker 

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker 

A gripping exploration of wartime paranoia, identity, and psychological trauma on the British Home Front during World War I.

BySteven Field 07.22.25
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick

International adoption from China arose amid policy-driven abandonment, later fostering trafficking incentives and coerced family separations.

ByDave Hsu 01.12.26
Vaccination in Danger

Vaccination in Danger

Vaccine pioneer Stanley Plotkin reflects on the growing opposition to vaccination despite its proven, lifesaving impact worldwide.

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney 

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney 

Children’s literature offers a lens into public perception and experience of childhood infectious diseases as we face a resurgence of these same…

ByGretl Lam 07.28.26
Three Paintings by Edvard Munch

Three Paintings by Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch transformed personal family tragedies into haunting paintings that reveal illness, grief, isolation, and enduring emotional suffering.

ByFelice Aull 07.23.26
Isles-Second Fragment

Isles-Second Fragment

A watchful partner, a curse, a part of everything all at once, in sickness and in health.

Two Long-Hidden Stories about Barriers to Health Care Surface and Still Relate

Two Long-Hidden Stories about Barriers to Health Care Surface and Still Relate

Two unknown stories from the past forewarn of problems in health care ahead.

Rethinking Mental Illness: Interview with Dr. Gavin Francis

Rethinking Mental Illness: Interview with Dr. Gavin Francis

In his chair at the clinic, Dr. Gavin Francis sees the mind as much less fragile than the…

ByRudy Malcom 07.14.26
Meet the Medhum Team: Dr. Tony Miksanek

Meet the Medhum Team: Dr. Tony Miksanek

Writer, runner, and medical humanities advocate explores storytelling, trust, vulnerability, and the human side of care.

ByDave Hsu 06.26.26
Factors Underlying Mental Orders Depicted in Pink Floyd’s The Wall

Factors Underlying Mental Orders Depicted in Pink Floyd’s The Wall

Using Pink Floyd’s The Wall, this episode explores psychiatric diagnosis through music, film, trauma, and medical education.

Consumptive Heroines: Opera and TB with Drs Linda and Michael Hutcheon

Consumptive Heroines: Opera and TB with Drs Linda and Michael Hutcheon

This podcast explores tuberculosis’ impact on opera, focusing on La Traviata and La Bohème, examining medical and cultural…

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The Medical Humanities Review

Cultivating empathy & critical thinking in health, culture & the arts


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