Sneha Akurati, a first-year medical student at the Miller School of Medicine, graduated with a double major in Global Health Studies and Studio Art from the University of Miami. Beyond her academic pursuits, Akurati channels her creativity into art, using it as a powerful tool to capture and convey the stories of those around her. Follow her artistic journey on Instagram @sneha.arts.

Jafar Al-Mondhiry, MD, MA, is a medical oncologist working at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, VA, specializing in the treatment of cutaneous malignancies. Originally pursuing graduate training in Continental Philosophy and Medical Ethics at Pennsylvania State University, he has maintained a thriving interest in the medical humanities throughout his training and early career. He completed medical school and internal medicine residency training at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and hematology/oncology fellowship training at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. He holds an assistant professorship appointment for medical education from the University of Virginia. Particularly areas of interest include issues in medical education, medical history, communication skills training, and palliative/supportive care for patients with advanced cancers.

Leena Ambady is a third-year medical student at Harvard Medical School. She is interested in a career in primary care and enjoys reading and writing.

May Ameri is an incoming ophthalmology resident and a fourth-year medical student at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She is pursuing a medical humanities concentration and passionate about narrative medicine as a vehicle for connecting with patients and preventing burnout. She is equally passionate about bridging the gap between medicine, policy, and advocacy. As an immigrant and previous Albert Schweitzer Fellow and Graduate Archer Fellow, Ameri encountered the complex health disparities that affect minorities. Ameri plans to go into a surgical subspecialty and will continue to pursue narrative as a form of healing.

Wentiirim Annankra is a Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellow at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She is also a Clinical Educator scholar at Mayo Clinic. Her educational journey has led her through four countries (three continents) and counting. Her research interests include the use of bubble CPAP in neonates in resource-limited settings, Medical Education, Global Health and Health Equity. When she is not engaged in clinical care, she loves to write about her experiences and is also involved in travelling through the African continent learning from and teaching healthcare professionals. IG: @Wentii17

Cheryl Bailey is a retired gynecologic oncologist whose creative non-fiction piece “Love, Frank” was published in the Fall 2022 issue of Intima. Bailey, who has published articles for small medical journals and hospital newsletters, edits and reviews medical articles for the Journal of Medical Regulation and was a community columnist in the St. Paul Pioneer Press for a year. Her first novel is set for publication June 2024 with Calumet Editions. She is President of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice and a Board member in the St. Paul League of Women Voters. Bailey also sings in the Mill City Singers and plays the flute in the St. Paul JCC orchestra. She lives with her husband, mom and two poorly behaved dogs.

Jen Baker-Porazinski practiced primary care medicine for over two decades in her rural community before taking a position in Canyon Ranch's Health and Performance Division in January 2022. In this role, she performs diagnostic medical services and consults with patients on preventative medicine. She also lectures and contributes regularly to their blog. In addition to Family Practice, she is Board Certified in Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine. She is writing a book about her experience as a doctor in the American healthcare system, including her story and the stories of her patients. She lives in upstate New York where she and her husband of nearly 30 years have raised three sons. Read more of her work on her blog, Pound of Prevention.

Carly Bergey is a medical speech language pathologist and writer. Her nonfiction work has previously been published in Intima, CHEST, Full Grown People and Pulse. Bergey continues to create at the intersection of where patient and provider narratives meet. As an SLP on the edge of burnout, she has been drawn to visual medium to reflect on her work as a medical professional. Not surprisingly, this creative work has fueled a deeper meaning within her draw to clinical work.

Aprotim Cory Bhowmik (he/him) is a third-year MD student at the Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine in New York City. His research focuses on social determinants of health and public health (e.g., homelessness and incarceration). He received his BS from Stanford University and EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has taught at Milton Academy in Milton, MA and serves as an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University. He plans to pursue a residency in internal medicine.

Julia Michie Bruckner is a writer, artist, pediatrician and mother. Bruckner, an assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Colorado School of Medicine, cares for kids in the pediatric emergency department at Children's Hospital Colorado. Her essays and visual art can be found in JAMA, Academic Medicine, Academic Pediatrics, Bellevue Literary Review, KevinMD and Narratively. She is co-editor of a forthcoming narrative medicine guidebook.

Lauren Burgoon is a pediatrician finishing residency in Philadelphia and entering general pediatrics practice in a second career after 10 years as a community journalist. She finds meaning in medicine through advocacy around gun violence prevention, opioid harm reduction and physician well-being. Outside of work, you can find her most often with her one-eyed rescue dog or enjoying the Jersey shore.

Bruce H. Campbell, MD FACS is a retired head and neck cancer surgeon who spent his career at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He holds a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. He has published fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, photography, and humor in JAMA, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pulse, the Examined Life Journal, and Creative Wisconsin, among others. His award-winning book, A Fullness of Uncertain Significance: Stories of Surgery, Clarity, and Grace (TEN16 Press, 2021) highlights moments from his life, starting as a nursing assistant and extending to retirement. Learn more at https://www.BruceCampbellMD.com

Connor Cortez Campbell is pursuing an MS in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. With hopes to attend medical school, Campbell is interested in re-contextualizing diagnoses with storytelling techniques, along with empowering voices through documentary filmmaking.

Krishna Chaganti is an associate professor of rheumatology at AUCSF Medical Center. Chaganti has been writing short creative essays for several years as a way of understanding her interactions with patients and examining things that happen in her non-medical life too.

Malavika Eby is an undergraduate junior at Swarthmore College, studying Medical Anthropology and Psychology. She holds a passion for reading and writing about patient-provider communication, trust, and mutual understanding, with the aim to lift up patients' voices, autonomy, and lived knowledge about their bodies in the biomedical context. Eby is a trained birth doula and plans to pursue training in obstetrics and gynecology following medical school at Thomas Jefferson University, which she will begin in 2025.

Yona Feit is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Global Health and the History and Religion of Disease, with a specific focus on ancient pandemic and its current cultural parallels. She also holds an MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University, where she is a recent Precision Medicine Associate Fellow. She is currently a clinical research coordinator and phlebotomist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the department of Pathology and Cell Biology. Her current research interests include the study of iron deficiency of blood donors, pediatric and adult sickle cell anemia, genetics and quality of red blood cells, and chronic blood transfusions. Her hope is to continue into Medical School to continue studying hematology oncology.

Sonny Fillmore is from Columbus, Ohio. He is a medical student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. His backup plan to being a physician is to be a writer, and vice versa.

Amanda Ford is a writer and scientist living in Northern California. She trained as an astrophysicist; her work on galaxy formation and evolution has appeared in Science, The Astrophysical Journal, and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. She works as a data scientist for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office; using statistics, modeling, and analysis to improve the City’s response to the homelessness crisis. Ford, a survivor of cancer and brain injury, is learning how to live well with severe Lyme disease.

Carlee Fountaine is a Fellow in Hospice and Palliative care at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She finds great meaning and restoration in narrative medicine and writes 55 Word Stories as a reflective practice. Her work has been featured in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Steffi Gauguet is a Harvard-trained pediatric intensive care physician at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. When not taking care of critically ill children, she writes, runs, skis and tries to raise her three rambunctious kids into kind and responsible people.

Kristin Graziano, DO, MPH, FAAFP is a family physician who spent most of her career living and working on the Navajo and Jicarilla Apache Nations where she gained an intense appreciation for the strength and stories of her patients and the beauty of their landscapes. Recently retired from clinical practice, she is exploring the right side of her brain by dabbling in writing. She spends the rest of her time hiking, cycling, and advocating for wilderness and mitigating climate change. She lives in Northern New Mexico with her lovely wife Joan and their impossibly brilliant Blue Heeler, Macy.

Ann Etta Green is a teacher and writer who lives outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Green has published op-eds on issues of caregiving in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Chronicle of Higher Education and her writing about teaching in prison has appeared in Blarb, the Blog of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her academic writing includes reflections on community-engaged teaching, and she has written with some of her former students who are or who have experienced incarceration. In her free time, she haphazardly gardens and reluctantly birds. Green is working on a memoir about caregiving for her mother in a rural, politically red area with limited healthcare resources.

Rabia Hakim is a board-certified pediatrician, a mother and an artist. She continuously notices the additional demands faced by women in healthcare. Her painting portrays the mental load of mothers in medicine.

CC Hart is a neurodiversity advocate, artist and author. She is a founding board member of the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists and Scientists (IASAS), where she serves as secretary. Her artworks have been exhibited in Spain, Russia, Belgium and the USA. Her poetry and essays have been published internationally, both in print and electronically. Ms. Hart continues to learn how her divergent brain creates both opportunities and obstacles, and she supports the argument that neurodiverse traits represent part of the spectrum of human somatosensory, intellectual and cognitive experience. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of San Francisco. Currently, she is a student in the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University in New York City.

Richard Hovey is an associate professor at McGill University in the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, who has a diverse background including education, qualitative research, and community development with degrees in Education, Physiology and Health Philosophy. His work experiences are equally diverse with expertise in Adult Learning, Community Rehabilitation and Disability studies, Medicine and Dentistry as qualitative researcher interested in a variety of chronic health conditions including chronic pain. He also is a person living with chronic pain for the past 13 years, providing an additional layer of understanding and perspective of living with chronic pain. August 2019, he was diagnosed with advanced metastasized prostate cancer.

Lauren Klingman is a practicing emergency medicine physician with the Permanente Medical Group in the Bay Area. A theater artist turned doctor, Klingman has continued to seek ways to bring art and the medical humanities into physician practice through publications, national conferences and creation of a specialized humanities track with Stanford Medicine's Emergency Medicine Residency. She believes art and humanities is fundamental in optimizing both physician wellness and patient care. She is working on a novel about the residence experience during the pandemic.

Donald Kollisch is a Family Physician and teacher who started his career as a country doctor in Northern New Hampshire. Although he has worked in academia for the last 30 years - in New York City, North Carolina, and New Hampshire - his writing heart is still back in his rural roots. The people he met and cared for back then now populate his short stories.

Shruti Koti is a surgical resident physician based in New York City. She earned her BA at the University of California, Berkeley, followed by her MD from Hofstra University. She is passionate about palliative care, narrative medicine, and storytelling. Discover her essays on Brief Op Notes.

Lynn Lawrence is a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. A graduate of Columbia’s Narrative Medicine Program, she is a co-editor of Narrative in Social Work Practice : The Power and Possibility of Story. Her chapter in that book, “Garden at Vaucresson : It’s Not all a Bed of Roses,” represents a lived experience of how the close reading of Vuillard’s painting in concert with reflective writing uncorks a family trauma. Her most recent article, “Mourning Becomes Elect[ronic]”, published in SYNAPSIS ( 2021) traces technology as an aid in mediating bereavement from Victorian mourning photography to the use of FaceTime during COVID. Her work has appeared in Intima (2011), The Psychoanalytic Review (2014) and Smith College Studies in Social Work (2016), among other journals.

Nancy Lewis, who recently published a personal essay in Trash Panda Literary, has co-authored eleven health-focused academic articles. She earned a PhD in anthropology, worked in equity-based health policy and travelled extensively, living six years in Asia. She was diagnosed with several chronic progressive diseases in 2007 and learned to find joy and contentment in spite of deteriorating health. She received a life-transforming double lung transplant in 2022. Now reveling in her second chance at life, Lewis pursues her passions: writing, cooking (and eating) and photography. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two cats.

Denise Napoli Long is a home hospice nurse, an ER nurse, and a volunteer EMT. She is currently enrolled in the masters in writing program at Johns Hopkins University. She has previously been published in Intima as well as Write or Die magazine.

Ciara Lusnia is a third-year medical student who served as her schools Medical Humanities President and enjoys expressing her passion of medicine through artistic endeavors.

Sujal Manohar (she/her) lives and thrives at the intersection of the arts and sciences. A Duke University graduate with degrees in neuroscience and visual arts, she does not view these fields as mutually exclusive. Manohar has designed collaborative murals in health care settings, taught art to pediatric patients, and led art gallery tours for adults with dementia. After graduation, she served as a Hart Fellow and AmeriCorps Artist in Residence at Imagine Art, an art studio for people with disabilities. Her work has been displayed at the Texas State Fair, Duke Wellness Center, and Kenan Keohane Gallery. She is currently a third-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine.

Molly McCormick is a practicing anesthesiologist who has worked in anesthesiology for the past 33 years.

Jeffrey Millstein is an internist, writer and educator, and serves as a Regional Medical Director for Penn Primary Care. He is a pre-clinical instructor-mentor and serves as an office-based clinical preceptor for students at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His essays have been published in JAMA, The Journal of Patient Experience, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, and Family Medicine. He is also a frequent op-ed contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Elizabeth Mitchell is an Emergency Physician in Boston where she has practiced for almost thirty years. She has been published in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, JAMA, and more. Her writing includes songs, poetry, and essays. She is currently working on a memoir. lizmitchellmusemd.com

Woods Nash is an Assistant Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of Houston Fertitta Family College of Medicine.

Sheethal Gloria Oommen is a physician from Malaysia and an aspiring poet/author. She recently moved to the United States, and hopes to become a psychiatrist. Growing up in a family that relocated frequently for work, she lived, studied, and trained in various countries, and became a keen observer of human behavior and cultures. Her writing and approach to medicine reflect these insights and her commitment to dispelling medical and scientific disinformation.

Deb O’Rourke is of Canadian settler descent and living in Anishinaabe territory in Toronto, Canada. O’Rourke is a visual artist, a democratic educator and a longtime community journalist whose book on democratic education was published in 2022 by Artword Press. She has an MEd from York University, and a diploma in Fine Art. O’Rourke’s poetry has appeared in venues that include The New Quarterly, Little Blue Marble, and Ars Medica, and was commended for Coffee House Poetry’s International Troubadour Prize, 2023. Learn more about her work at milkweedpatch.com

Peg Padnos became an RN at the age of 45, inspired by the NICU experience of her twin sons.  Now retired, she is a full-time poet based in Western Michigan. Her work has appeared in American Journal of Nursing; Bear River Review; Busy Griefs, Raw Towns; Harvardwood Anthology of the Seven Deadly Sins & humble pie. She is co-author of the group collection Waterlines (Three Pines Press).

Jennifer Peterson is a Neonatal Subspeciality Doctor and Research Fellow. She currently works in the North West of England, having previously trained in Oxfordshire and Bristol. She has an interest in narrative medicine and neonatal ethics and has undertaken a Churchill Fellowship in Narrative Medicine and completed her Masters in Healthcare Ethics and Law. @jennlhpeterson

Davida Pines is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Associate Dean of Faculty Research at Boston University's College of General Studies. She has written a book called The Marriage Paradox, as well as numerous articles on comics and graphic medicine. Most recently, her research focuses on graphic memoirs on Alzheimer's Disease.

Sarah Piper is a writer and physician living in northern California. Her previous work can be read in the Kindling and in future Elevate issues of Yellow Arrow Journal.

Evelyn M. Potochny, DO, is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA. Earlier in her career, she was a medical officer in the United States Navy.

Rachel Prince is a first-year medical student at Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine. She serves on the editorial board of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine as well as Arbor Vitae, Netter's creative arts journal. She hopes to use her interest in writing and storytelling as a tool to amplify the voices of her patients, particularly those from vulnerable populations.

Aubrey Reed, a current MD/PhD candidate at Emory School of Medicine, brings a unique perspective to their pursuits. Driven by a passion for medicine and research, Reed is deeply committed to exploring the intricacies of human experience. Drawing from personal experiences as a patient, she seeks to highlight the humanity of patients and to foster discussions about empathy and empowerment. Utilizing art as a tool to delve into the complexities of illness and wellness, Reed integrates scientific inquiry with empathetic understanding, aiming to meet patients where they are at in their healing journey. By understanding their needs and goals, Reed hopes to help patients heal in ways that are meaningful to them, fostering holistic approaches to healthcare.

Niharika Sathe is an internal medicine physician. She is grateful for her patients, whose stories make her a better doctor. She lives in Haddonfield, NJ with her husband and two children.

Carol Scott-Conner is professor and chair emeritus in the Department of Surgery at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. She serves as fiction editor for The Examined Life Journal, and is the author of numerous textbooks and two books of short stories. She recently attained her MFA in creative writing, specializing in Narrative Medicine, from Lenoir-Rhyne University. Her prose and poetry explore the relationships between surgeons and patients, and the experience of being a female surgeon.

Irene Sherlock is a dual-licensed marriage and family therapist and alcohol and drug counselor who lives and practices in Danbury, CT. Her poems, essays and short stories have been published in many literary magazines, journals and in several anthologies. A chapbook of her poems, “Equinox,” was published in 2010 by Finishing Line Press.

Darcy Smith is an American Sign Language Interpreter. She believes poetry is a lot like translation. Both are enlivened by inference, image, and shifting syntax. The rural northeast informs Smith’s poetry, including her debut collection, "River Skin" (Fernwood Press 2022). Smith’s manuscript in progress centers mental health and extends to family, substance abuse, domestic violence, and loss. Awards include the Please See Me Mental Health Poetry Prize & the Medmic Poetry Prize. She is a Buddhist, kickboxer, wife and mother. Smith lives with her husband and their cat, Miley, in New York’s Hudson Valley. For more information and to view several ASL translations of her work, visit: www.darcysmith.org

Shephaly Soni is a third-year medical student at Tulane University SOM who uses art to process her experiences with mental health and medicine. She has a Bachelor of Science and Arts in Fine Arts and Biology from Carnegie Mellon University and a Masters in Public Health from The University of Texas. Her work explores concepts through various organ systems and uses plant imagery to symbolize transformation and growth after trauma. Soni will be applying for a general surgery residency this upcoming match cycle. shephalysoni.com

Julie Sumner is a writer who has worked as a critical care nurse, liver transplant coordinator, and massage therapist. She teaches creative writing, focusing on reading poetry and writing as ways to develop resilience, particularly for healthcare workers and people with chronic illnesses. Her poems and book reviews have appeared in journals such as Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Delta Poetry Review, The Intima, Relief Journal and The Englewood Review of Books. Her work is also featured in two Writing the Land anthologies: Foodways and Social Justice and Streamlines. Her chapbook, Meridian, was chosen by poet Jane Hirshfield as the winner of the 2023 con/verge/nces Prize from Wildhouse Publishing. She has an MFA in poetry from Seattle-Pacific University. Discover more of her work at www.juliesumnerpoetry.com, @juliesumnerpoetry on Instagram, @julieasumner on X.

Angela Tang-Tan is a third-year medical student at Keck School of Medicine of USC. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 2020 with a dual degree in Neurobiology and Psychology before becoming an ambulance EMT during the COVID-19 pandemic. She plans to pursue a residency in neurosurgery.

Parisa Thepmankorn is a medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She is a graduate of Brown University, where she earned a BA in English and Biology. Her work has been published in Hobart, Up the Staircase Quarterly and Cosmonauts Avenue, among others.

Suzanne Travis lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four rescue dogs. She is semi-retired after working over twenty years in oncology nursing. She continues her love of working with patients as an infusion specialist in a clinic and at patient's homes. As a former stand-up comic, she found humor to be therapeutic with her patients. During her free time, she pursues her passion for writing and hiking in her neighborhood canyon.

Jennie Vegt is a professional artist and a Psychiatry graduate student working on a thesis on arts in health. Having used art-making to process her own healing, Vegt is passionate about creating greater accessibility to the healing power of arts for those who might not identify as 'artist'. She works as an 'Artist on the Ward', where she has learned that genuine human connection is the access point to engaged creativity and 'flow' in her sessions with patients in hospital. @jennievegtart

Maxwell Wilberding is a fourth-year medical student at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University in 2021. Wilberding pursues writing as a tool of reflection and communication through the trials of medical training and as a token of appreciation for all the patients along the way. IG: @MaxwellWilber

Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller living in Toronto. He's the author of Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century and I Am Full - Stories for Jacob. He worked for five years at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care as a storyteller-in-residence, and created — with social worker Melissa Tafler — a story-based approach to healthcare called "storycare."

Author photo by Jacob Zavitz

Jeanne Yu is a poet, a lifelong environmentalist, an engineer and a mom who lives every day in the hope she has for the world, in spite of and because of our humanness. She completed her MFA at Pacific University in January 2023. Yu was a semi-finalist in Rattle’s poetry contest in 2021. Her poems appear in Rattle 78, Paper Dragon and Breakwater Review. Yu volunteers for Oregon Poetry Association, Perugia Press and serves as the assistant poetry editor for Northwest Review.