American Medical Student Association

Opportunities in the Medical Humanities

AMSA

• Medical Humanities Scholars Program

Ethics

• AMA’s John Conley Ethics Essay Contest for Medical Students
• American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Conference

Fine Arts

• AMSA’s The New Physician Annual Creative Arts Contest

History

• American Association for the History of Medicine
  - Osler Medal Essay Contest
  - Shyrock Medal Essay Contest
• Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science
• American Osler Society
  - William B. Bean Student Research Award

Journalism

• The New Physician
• Virtual Mentor

Literature

• AMSA National Book Discussion Series

Poetry

• Williams Carlos Williams Poetry Competition
• Medicine & Metaphors: Writing From the Heart

Writing Contests

• Helen H. Glaser Student Essay Awards

Books

• A Few Notes on Tropical Butterflies: Stories by John Murray
• An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison
• Another day in the frontal lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside by Katrina Firlik
• And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts [Nonfiction, history of the beginnings of AIDS].
• Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
• Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon by Michael J Collins.
• Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande
• County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital by David Ansell [Underserved Medicine].
• Cutting for Stone by Atul Gawande [Fiction, Ethiopian journey into medicine]
• Free To Love Free To Heal: Heal Your Body by Healing Your Emotions by Dr. Simon [Mind-body medicine]
• Gray Matter A Neurosurgeon Discovers the Power of Prayer . . . One Patient at a Time by David Levy. [Christian. Neurosurgery]
• Healing the Wounds: A Physician Looks at His Work by David Hilfiker [Challenges of family practice]
• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder [Haiti]
• My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story by Abraham Varghese
• Reproducing Inequities: Poverty and the Politics of Population in Haiti by Catherine Maternowska [Medical anthropology, family planning, Haiti]
• The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks
• The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
• The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck
• People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck
• Perfect Health by Dr. Chopra [Mind-body medicine]
• Something for the Pain: Compassion and Burnout in the ER by Paul Austin.
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman [Nonfiction, US health care, cultural barriers]
• Terminal Man by Michael Crichton [Fiction, Medical Ethics].
• The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine
• The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing by Mimi Guarneri
• The House of God by Samuel Shem
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot [Research Ethics, HeLa cancer cell line]
• This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes by Marilyn Berger
• The Kitchen Shrink: A Psychiatrist’s Reflections on Healing in a Changing World by Dora Wang.
• The Schopenhauer Cure: A Novel by Irvin Yalom. [Psychiatry. Group therapy.]
• Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer [Nonfiction, Global health, disparities]
• The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The rise of a sovereign profession and the making of a vast industry by Paul Starr [History, Pulitzer Prize]
• Willing and Unable: Doctors' Constraints in Abortion Care by Lori Freedman [Nonfiction, abortion provision]

Film

• A Walk to Beautiful - NOVA / PBS, 2008. [Documentary, obstetric surgery in Ethiopia]
• Doc Hollywood / Warner Home Video, 1991. [Surgeon to rural health]
• John Q / New Line Home Video, 2002. [Healthcare]
• Making the Crooked Straight / New Video Group, 2011 [Documentary, Dr. Rick Hodes]
• No Past to Speak Of / Films Transit International Inc. 2006. [Documentary, child rape in South Africa]
• One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest / Warner Bros. 1975 [Psychiatry]
• Patch Adams / Universal Studies, 1998. [Based on a true story]
• Shutter Island / Paramount, 2009. [Psychiatry]
• Sicko / Weinstein Company, 2007. [Documentary, healthcare, socialized medicine]
• Something the Lord Made / HBO Home Video, 2004.
• The Business of Being Born / Warner Bros. 2008 [Documentary, woman controlling delivery and care]
• The Doctor / Walt Disney Video, 1991.
• The Painted Veil / Warner Home Video, 2007 [Cholera in China]
• Tuesdays with Morrie / Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1999. [Based on a true story, ALS & Homecare]
• Wit / HBO Home Video, 2001. [End of life care, Emmy award]

Television

• Deliver Me / Oprah Winfrey Network [Follows three OBs in a high-risk practice]