Johanna Shapiro PhD
The program in Medical Humanities & Arts is a small but vital component of the educational curriculum at the University of California Irvine, School of Medicine. At its core, this program is a reflection curriculum. Its goal is to cultivate self-aware, self-reflexive physicians who are able to critically situate themselves and their patients within the culture of medicine as well as within larger societal contexts; challenge themselves and the health-care systems in which they function; pay empathic attention to disenfranchised, marginalized voices in health care; recognize how their stories and emotions, as well as those of their patients and colleagues, influence the patient-doctor encounter; and ultimately treat their patients with greater presence, emotional connection, and respect for personhood.