World War II: bodies beyond the battlefield Listen to the podcast with the editors by Hannah Simpson, Megan Girdwood ‘Between-time stories’: waiting, war and the temporalities of care by Laura Salisbury ‘Never forget’: fictionalising the Holocaust survivor with dementia [read the article summary] by Sue Vice Special operations: a hidden chapter in the histories of […]
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Beyond Remedy
Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York. Review of Skin (2018), directed by Guy Nattiv, USA. “You have to be taught …to hate and fear…before you are six or seven or eight …you have to be carefully taught” Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the musical ‘South Pacific’ (1958).[1] These wise, […]
COVID 19 and Medical Humanities
The present pandemic, unprecedented in its spread and breadth and occurring at a time of extraordinary political upheaval and divisiveness, lays bare systemic prejudice against the most vulnerable among us. We at Medical Humanities, with our focus on global health and social justice, welcome discussion about how the crisis has disproportionately affected racial and fiscal […]
Where Race, Disparity, and Pandemic Collide: COVID-19 USA
Podcast by Oni Blackstock On today’s podcast, EIC Brandy Schillace interviews Dr. Oni Blackstock, Assistant Commissioner for the NYC Health Department’s Bureau of HIV. Dr. Blackstock is also a primary care and HIV doctor, as well as a researcher focused on the experiences of women and people of colour in healthcare. Dr. Blackstock joins us to […]
In Times of Crisis: Remember Those Lost in the System
Blog by Caroline Lee One chilly fall night, I approached the apartment complex and climbed a steep and dilapidated concrete staircase leading up to the door. After entering, I was met with yet another set of staircases leading up to the residence, this time made out of wooden floorboards that audibly creaked with each step. […]
Social Inequity and Access to Mental Healthcare in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Blog by Dr. Migita D’cruz The novel coronavirus pandemic has been called the great equalizer or leveller of society. The grim reality, however, is that it is anything but that. The global response to the pandemic has accentuated, if not exacerbated existing social inequities and one of the corollaries to this is compromised mental […]
A Kafkaesque Pandemic
Blog by Cormac Francis Mullins and JJ Coughlan During the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, it was difficult not to experience a sense of claustrophobia. Confined to one’s room and sequestered from society and family, the dystopian universe we had been faced with felt oppressive and nightmarish. In many senses, it felt “Kafkaesque.” As […]
A Parable for Our Times
Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York ‘Daughter’ (Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic, 2019) “Daughter” was the 2019 winner of the “Student Oscar” for the best animated film created by a student from an international school, an award bestowed by the U.S. Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. “Daughter” has a […]
“The Eyes of Others Are Our Prisons; Their Thoughts our Cages” (Virginia Woolf)
Film Review by Franco Ferrarini, gastroenterologist and film reviewer ‘Prisoners’ directed by Denis Villeneuve (USA, 2013) Warning: the review contains plot spoliers! Villeneuve’s film, as clearly stated by its title, deals with the theme of captivity, not just physical but also, and perhaps mainly, psychological incarceration. ‘Prisoners’ is not just a compelling thriller with beautiful […]
‘Born to be’ (Tania Cypriano, USA, 2019)
Film Review by Keerthi Gondy, B.S., a fourth-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Mi. Born to Be is Tania Cypriano’s remarkably moving documentary about New York’s Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, where for the first time, transgender patients have access to transition-related health and surgical care. […]