The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine will host a three-day conference focusing on the links between the science of medicine and the art of writing.
The University of Iowa is among the nation’s premier centers for creative writing, and its programs attract writers from all over the world. A dozen Pulitzer Prize-winners, numerous National Book Award recipients, and four recent US Poet Laureates have attended the University of Iowa. The University is home to the International Writing Program, the Nonfiction Writing Program, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and the Iowa Review. It is also home to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the first creative writing degree program in the United States, and the model for contemporary writing programs. Iowa City itself is a UNESCO City of Literature.
Purpose and Objectives
The program seeks to encourage healthcare professionals, medical educators, patients and their family members to define methods for incorporating writing and humanities into medical education, patient care, and/or professional development schemes; identify the role that humanities activities can play in such activities; identify avenues to pursue that can improve their creative or reflective writing; describe and utilize the mechanics of writing for publication. These objectives are intended to improve practice by giving healthcare professionals and medical educators tools to enhance their understanding: of patients' needs; the ethical, emotional, and psychological requirements of their professions; methods that can be used to increase the well-being and communication skills of medical learners, healthcare providers, and patients; and knowledge of publication practices.
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