Interest Groups

Health Humanities Interest Group   

The Health Humanities Interest Group will offer the student body an opportunity to explore their curiosity in the health humanities.  We will provide a common space to unite people with multidisciplinary interests in art, writing, music, dance, history, and other expressions of medical humanities. We hope to promote the development of a community of students interested in collaborating in their creative endeavors, and working with and learning from physicians who integrate the humanities into their lives and careers.

Bioethics Interest Group (BIG)

Students are welcome to attend the School of Medicine & Dentistry's Bioethics Journal Club.  The Journal Club is student lead and student run, and attended by Drs. Shaw and Sussman.  Student members sign up to facilitate each monthly meeting.  During each meeting, the group discusses an article or two selected by the students from the following journals: The Hastings Center Report, The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal.  The topics are diverse and the discussions lively.

Mindfulness Interest Group

Jon Kabat Zinn, meditation teacher and founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, defines mindfulness as “The awareness that arises in the present moment non-judgmentally that is cultivated through paying attention and in the service of clarity, compassion, and wisdom.”  The Mindfulness Interest Group is designed to give students the space, community, and infrastructure necessary to develop this quality of attention, so we can more fully engage with our lives and medical careers. 

murmur

murmur, a literary and arts journal, was founded in 2015 and is led by medical students with input from a faculty advisor.  murmur is published annually and includes poetry, prose, and art from members of the University of Rochester Medical Center community, including students, physicians, nurses, and alumni.  The annual release party is held in the spring at the Rochester Academy of Medicine.  Copyrights of all printed materials belong to their creators.  murmur receives funding from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the University Committee for Interdisciplinary Studies, and the University of Rochester School of Medicine Student Senate. 

May 2019 publication of murmur.

Progress Notes

Progress Notes, a reflective writing group, was founded in 2018 and is led by medical students with input from a faculty advisor. ​Progress Notes meets quarterly to host writing workshops themed around medical education, student identity formation, and clinical encounters. The group aims to foster a community of student writers and to create a space for dialogue about perspectives in medicine. Additionally, Progress Notes partners with murmur to host events such as a clinician-writer Q&A panel.

THE REFLECTOR

About The Reflector - A Guide for Students

Cadaver: Latin = one who has fallen.

Introduction

The purpose of this book is to serve as a reminder that medicine is not only a science, but also an art of understanding how our own individuality interacts with the individuality of those around us. We see The Reflector as a humanities-based tool to help students learn anatomy, and to begin to establish the balance between emotional responses and objective responsibilities. In order to grow personally and professionally, students need time and space to think about our values, beliefs, and experiences; and recognize that these elements will mold us into the physicians that we will become....

Thank you to the current Medical Students who have been updating the Reflector these past two years (October 2023): Sabrina Sayegh, Sarbjit Birdi, Talia Chen, Tiffany Ting.