By Munyao Kilolo, Ph.D. student in comparative literature
Johanna F. Shapiro, Professor Emerita of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, grew up surrounded by literature and poetry. However, it wasn’t until 1997 that the intersection of medicine and poetry painfully became real to her. In that year, she suffered a major medical challenge, forcing her to devote countless hours to researching her condition. Every piece of information she found during her research made her feel worse. Then, a friend approached her with an unusual suggestion: reading poetry. (Article originally published by UCI School of Humanities)