Medical Humanities Council Membership

Felicia Ho (she/her)

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

I grew up in a house of music and words, whether it be playing the piano and violin or spending hours digging into a classic English novel. After taking a course on patient, physician, and caregiver narratives in college, I finally connected my passions for the sciences and humanities together as storytelling. I hope to weave the patience, care, and listening skills I have developed over time in these artistic fields into future patient care. 

Favorite Media: Tuesdays with Morrie

Andrew Scherffius

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

I joined the board of the Medical Humanities Council at PSOM to facilitate all the amazing interests and talents my peers bring to the human side of medicine. My personal passion in this domain is the history of medicine—before I was a medical student, I was a graduate student unrolling ancient medical dissection scrolls and teasing apart the historical forces that shape contemporary medical practice. Medicine is messy, and the poetry, painting, music, and ethics with which we infuse it help us make sense of it all!      

Favorite Media: My screensaver of high-definition frog pictures  

Caleb Rhodes (he/him)

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

I am interested in medical humanities because I believe that the technical solutions medicine can offer work best when combined with a deep appreciation for the complexity of human experience. I also just cannot imagine life without the arts.

Favorite Media: The Wire

Steven Hart

MS3 (MD, Class of 2025)

Leah Bush (she/her)

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

In the novel Breakfast of Champions, author Kurt Vonnegut writes on the tombstone of one of his characters, “We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” My interest in the medical humanities stems from the notion that there is no pursuit of health for ourselves or our patients without a concomitant pursuit of humanity. I’m particularly interested in making the medical humanities accessible to people who don’t see themselves as “medical humanities people.”

Favorite media: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Joshua Anil

MS3 (MD, Class of 2025)

Catherine Shen (she/her)

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

In high school, I took my first journalism class. I found that I enjoyed researching and learning about issues in my local community and what solutions were being implemented. Now, I appreciate how this form of medical humanities also exists in medicine.

Favorite Media: The Post

Alex Chen (he/him)

CDYO (MD/PhD, Class of 2025)

I’m interested in medical anthropology and the role of design in understanding and addressing the structural and personal determinants of health. We need the art of medicine as much as we need the science, life does not exist in controlled conditions!

Favorite Media: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Alder Strange (she/her)

MS3

Interests: Music and theatre in medicine

Jessica Campanile

MS3

Interests: Writing, environmental humanities, and incorporating the humanities into medical education

Jessie Cheng (she/her)

Bonnie Hu (she/her)

MS1 (MD, Class of 2027)

Amanda Finegold Swain, MD

Faculty Director for UME Medical Humanities