Welcome to the University of Michigan Medical Arts Program site.  The Program’s aim is to enhance the ability of medical students, interns, and residents to provide high-quality, humanistic clinical care through experiences and analysis of the musical, dramatic, literary, and visual arts.

Each year we provide an opportunity for these trainees to experience the arts. Sometimes this opportunity involves attendance at a musical performance, sometimes a play, sometimes a poetry reading, sometimes a visit to an art museum. All of these events include the chance to analyze the event with visiting artists and local experts, in both panel discussions and informal interactions over dinner.

These events have served as a catalyst for innovative thinking. They have stimulated innovative cross-campus interactions and in so doing helped to break down the artificial barriers that all too often separate the world of health care from the rest of the university. In so doing they have raised awareness of the importance of the arts for health care, and of the importance of health care for scholarship throughout the university.

Eight Medical Arts events took place in the 2011-2012 academic year, with 115 participants (including faculty learners) across all events. As of October 2012, over 400 learners had participated in 24 events across the entire history of the program. Please explore this site for details about specific events and to read about future opportunities.

The Medical Arts Program is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and by the Program in Society and Medicine. For more on the Creative Campus Program, please visit http://creativecampus.org.