The annual Medicine & the Muse symposium is one of senior associate dean Charles Prober's favorite events of the year, and now it's one of mine too. Prober, MD, the senior associate dean of medical education, kicked off the evening with introduction of this year's theme, "transformation and triumph."
It's a talent show Stanford Medicine style, with medical students providing the singing (ranging from an Italian opera duet to a foot-tapping mariachi tune), dancing (a group modern piece), film (gritty images from the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan) and readings (a children's book replete with illustrations of a mop-headed kindergartner who lost her teddy bear in the hospital and a witty novel excerpt about an incoming medical student leaving her plush Upper East Side existence).
Then, throw in chief communications officer Paul Costello's thought-provoking interview with author and pediatrician Perri Klass, MD, and you have a full evening of entertainment. Klass has written novels, non-fiction books, and numerous essays and journalism articles.
"Transformation and triumph" is a message that captures both the transition of medical students into full-fledged doctors and many aspects of pediatrics, Klass said. She went on to discuss her drive to write; the urge that keeps her at her computer late in the night, spilling out her reflections on that day's cases. And she explained her work as the national medical director of Reach Out and Read, a non-profit that provides books to low-income children.
The goal as a pediatrician is to get illnesses and other afflictions out of the way so children can blossom and reach their potential, she said. For some families, that means quite literally providing a book, which can serve of the basis for parents to develop an interactive, close relationship with their children.
Klass also offered advice for physicians hoping to hone their writing chops: "Just read good stuff, and write good stuff."
Previously: A lesson in voice and anatomy from an opera singer, Stanford Medicine Music Network brings together healers, musicians and music lovers and Stanford's Medicine and the Muse symposium features author of "The Kite Runner"
Photos by Norbert von der Groeben
