About Us

Dr Bales is a Primary Care General Internist at UW Health and active in the Wisconsin Chapter of the American College of Medicine as the Chair of the Women’s Committee. The WI ACP Women’s Committee has run a friendly Narrative Medicine competition for students, residents, and practicing physicians since 2022.  This is an opportunity for Wisconsin ACP members at any training level to share written works of poetry or prose in a low-stakes way, be published in the electronic Narrative Medicine booklet, and possibly win a nominal prize.  Check the Wisconsin ACP website for links to information about current and past years of Narrative Medicine competition: https://www.acponline.org/about-acp/chapters-regions/united-states/wisconsin-chapter.

I truly love reading both fiction (and non-fiction outside of medicine- so Up to Date doesn’t count for me in this category!). Often literature is cited as a way to develop empathy for others, and I certainly agree. In addition, reading a well-written book allows me to connect more deeply with myself and grow as a human. I have always believed that this internal journey along with growing my capacity for empathy have helped me in being a better physician.

I received my undergraduate BA in English with a focus on Non-fiction writing from University of Iowa. I find my humanities background helps me to think more broadly about the patient and their experience, remembering the things that make us all uniquely human aside from the function of our parts. During my time at MCW I participated in teaching a session during the 4th year medical humanities elective and found connecting with these students in their humanities work helped to inspire my own work. I have penned essays in the MCW Transformational Times newsletter, one of which was published in a book, Auscult the MCW literary magazine and most recently in the University of Iowa Examined Life Journal.

I am a general internist in the Department of Internal Medicine. Connecting with people one-on-one is a major source of joy for me. It is in part what drew me to a career in primary care, and is what gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment when working with residents in clinic, on the wards, and during their didactic time. My teaching interests center on practicing humanism in medicine and utilizing communication skills to improve patient care and physician wellbeing. I help teach the Internal Medicine Residency Empathy Course with my mentors and close colleagues Dr. Mariah Quinn and Dr. Amy Zelenski. Working on this curriculum has led us to develop several communication skills workshops for presentation locally and internationally. I am also a consultant on the UW Health Hospital Ethics Committee, which has opened my eyes to the complexities of being a patient (and a healthcare worker) in our current health system.

When I moved to UNC Chapel Hill, I taught the Literature section of a senior elective on History, Literature and Ethics and started working with the Southern Oral History Program at UNC and The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. I worked with oral historians, photographers, and others involved in capturing life histories and stories.

In 1991 a colleague of mine, Bill Ventres MD, and I collected 20 oral histories of the founders of the discipline of Family Medicine and published 11 of them in Family Medicine, which is the journal of our academic discipline. I have done other oral histories since then.

I have been editing journals since the mid 80’s – editor for Family Medicine and the Wisconsin Medical Journal (WMJ) and associate with The Annals of Family Medicine. I enjoy writing essays and have published a number of them over the years. I have been a journal consultant for the National Library of Medicine since 1987.

That is a lot of information, but how the humanities affected my teaching and practice is typified in an encounter I had with Dean Stewart Bondurant at UNC when we were talking about how he – a native North Carolinian understood the culture of communities and medicine from his life in the South. He asked how I, a native Midwesterner who had never lived in the South, had come to an understanding of its people and history. I told him I had read and still read Southern writers – novels, stories, essays – and then looked for what I had learned from them in my patients. My patients and novels taught me. The practice of family medicine is like reading novels – long ones, full of complexity and emotion – and if we are fortunate, we can read them to the end.

I grew up in Wisconsin and so have an understanding of the Midwest but it is both different and the same from 60 years ago. I need to keep reading.

As the parent of a child with medical complexity and disabilities, I wanted to build positive relationships with my child’s care team. Now, in my work with pediatricians and others in health care professions, my passion is finding ways to share personal stories and lived experience to help broaden the perspectives of those who care for families like mine. Storytelling is a powerful tool that can impact the delivery of quality care through building meaningful relationships between providers and families.

Like many of us, although a math and science ‘nerd’, I have loved reading since childhood. In my first faculty job I found the value and the delight of an active humanities program and the annual William Carolos Williams Poetry Competition. Yet as we moved across the country and my work and family increased, humanities took just a corner of the back seat … that corner with the snack of pleasure reading! The “pleasure” reading of prose and poetry often provided and still provides, my sources of reflection, compassion, empathy, understanding and insight. Over the past few years in part time work and now retirement, I have been afforded the opportunity to edit, write more often, and read voraciously. It is a joy to witness medical humanities growing at UW-SMPH. It will nourish the soul, enhance well-being, and I believe help us provide better care for our patients. I am honored to contribute in any way that I am able.

Committing to qualitative work is a matter of the heart as well as the of the head.  Our science and our art entwine, when we’re at our best, like two hands on the piano making music.  Without a childhood spent reading novels and poems, I fear I would have only technique but no musicality, no ear for the kind of listening people who tell their stories about health and health care deserve. I hope to one day to feel confident identifying as a writer.  Meanwhile, I lean in that direction whenever I can and eagerly seek out fellow travelers from the arts and humanities, such as the amazing film maker collaborating with our Qualitative and Health Experiences Research Lab to create Catalyst Films .

Chris led in the establishment of a trio of art/humanity initiatives for the health communities served by the Ebling Library: (1) The Ebling Library Recreational Reading Collection – an expanding collection of print and electronic non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and graphic medicine books that focus on health, wellness, diversity, inclusion, and antiracism; (2)  To add an interactive component to this collection, the Ebling Library initiated a Book & Film Discussion Club, which offers a forum to discuss contemporary and classic books and films on topics such as anti-racism, diversity, science innovation, history, and wellbeing; and (3) the online journal Corpus Callosum, Ebling Library’s Journal of the Arts, to showcase the arts of health communities served by the library.

The work of Spiritual Care in the hospital is the ongoing exploration of what it means to be human. The experience of illness and death, and of accompanying others through those times, calls up questions from the deepest parts of us. My engagement with the humanities reminds me that some questions are sufficient unto themselves, and call for patient presence rather than answers. In the words of Rainier Maria Rilke, “…the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer

Engaging with the humanities, through writing, music, and dance, has kept me grounded as a person over the years of work in medicine and science. I find the reflection that comes with writing as being fundamental for noticing the wonder in the world around me. And, finally, the humanities have provided me with some of the most fulfilling relationships I’ve ever had with colleagues and the global community.

I am the principal investigator for the Family LENS (Lived Experience i(N) Scholarship for Children with Medical Complexity) study. This study focuses on sharing family experiences as a means for maintaining the humanity in caring for children with medical complexity and their families and improving relationships between families and health care providers.

I recently got an e-mail from Joy, the daughter of Helen A., a patient I took care of some years ago. During the last years of Helen’s life, she struggled with physical decline due to advanced heart disease as well as the emotional toll of supporting a son in recovery and her young granddaughter.

Joy wanted to let me know that while going through old papers, she found an old prescription I had written. On it was the title of a novel. All those years ago, I pulled out the pad in my pocket to recommend a story for Helen: “A Year Down Yonder,” the story of a resilient grandma and her curious granddaughter.

Helen’s prescriptions for statins, beta blockers, and SSRIs are long gone. What is left is her story. Stories have the power to build us up, to help us connect, perhaps even to heal. I’m sure I recommended that novel to Helen to let her know that her story mattered to me.

And how lucky we are in medicine to be such an intimate part of our patients lives. Joy also wrote to remind me that I was part of Helen’s story, her own story, and that together our stories still breathe.

As Family Medicine Residency Faculty, I have the privilege to work with learners in medicine at many points in their training: pre-medical, medical school, residency and fellowship and am interested in helping medical professionals use reflection to enhance their learning.  I find that both established curriculum in narrative medicine and personal reflective practices can enhance cultural competency, communication, and empathy with patients, families, team members as well as ourselves.

My involvement with humanities lies in knowing that a more human connection makes work more fulfilling and enriching and staves off burnout. I incorporate humanism when I can to create more meaningful relationships with trainees, colleagues, patients and their families. I run a lecture series in peds hem/onc discussing humanism-related articles and always enjoy the rich conversations that flow from these articles.

Dr. Marchand has received several accolades for her contributions, including the humanities award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and the Gold Humanism award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Her commitment to the humanities in medicine is evident through her teaching and numerous workshops across various regions. She has also been the editor of the Art of Caring column in the AAHPM Quarterly for a decade, showcasing essays from her colleagues.

In addition to her academic and clinical work, Dr. Marchand is an accomplished writer of prose and poetry, often inspired by patient stories and personal reflection. Her involvement with the Remen Institute for Health and Healing includes directing the Healer’s Art course for medical and health professional students for nearly 20 years at both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington. Through her work, she underscores the importance of the humanities in enriching medical practice, education, and personal life.

As a general pediatrician, I have an opportunity to bring an Integrative approach to my clinical practice, including bringing in a whole person approach to health and well-being with an understanding that many factors influence health including the mind, body, spirit and community. As an educator, I think it is important to teach trainees to intentionally recognize the healing potential of the relationship between patient/family and clinician as a way to connect and share the humanism that is infused in our practice of medicine.

As a neonatologist in the neonatal intensive care unit, I am immersed in the complexities of early human life, dealing with the fragility of newborns and the emotional journeys of their families. In this challenging environment, where joy and sorrow are closely intertwined, I turn to the humanities as a vital outlet for reflection and expression. Through writing poetry, crafting short stories, and creating paintings, I process the profound experiences of care, loss, and resilience that define my work. These artistic endeavors allow me to capture and share the essence of these moments, providing not only a means of personal coping but also a way to communicate and resonate with others. I hope to offer unique insights that bridge scientific understanding with the human experience, inviting a broader contemplation of the ethical, moral, and philosophical dimensions of life at its beginnings.

Medical students have consistently described The Healer’s Art elective as a brave space for students to gather and share about their own lived experiences, the process of learning medicine, and the practice of being in relationship with the patients for whom they care. In alignment with the course’s intention for all involved to be co-learners and co-teachers, I have found this space to be healing, enlightening and heart-opening. Each year I am grateful to be sharing this space with our medical students and for the opportunity to feel my own growth in the process.

I have been co-teaching Narrative Medicine since it was first offered at SMPH, which has been an intensive but rewarding couple of weeks annually. I also try to bring narrative principles into clinical medicine teaching (both in the classroom around history-taking, and then the application of that practice in actual clinical encounters). Additionally, in my advocacy teaching to professional, graduate, and undergraduate students, I frequently reference narrative methods in how we frame issues, converse with decision-makers, write op-eds, and more.

Furthermore, as someone with significant involvement locally, regionally, and nationally with Reach Out and Read, an Early Literacy program based in primary care clinics, I teach and discuss narrative as a core element of children’s literature and part of building early literacy skills. In the last few years, this has all led me to be the executive producer and host of two podcasts, Reach Out and Read and Teachers, Toddlers, and Tissues, which use elements of story to share ideas, concepts, and facts with the general public. I also write a regular column in The Capital Times, using similar principles.

All of this allows for our learners (and the public) to develop skillful, intentional ways to engaging with others in the name of increasing their understanding about health and the human condition, creating positive social change, and generally making our society one that considers and respects individual stories as facets of a larger societal narrative.

I have provided oversight and leadership for the Arts at Ebling working with Ebling library leadership and staff (this includes Corpus Callosum, the Book/Film Discussion group, Recreational Reading) and have presented on this at national meetings. I also like to contribute to the arts as time allows. In addition, I have given workshops on poetry and flourishing in academic medicine as well as workshops to non-academic groups in songwriting. I write a lot of music and perform in some ensembles and groups (more so pre-pandemic). I also was the faculty founder of our medical sciences orchestra.

I feel very lucky to have found myself, through serendepitiy, able to integrate humanities into my education practice.  My primary art practice as a child and young adult was in the performing arts space, in theatre and dance.  As for many people, medical education took a toll on my ability to be engaged meaningfully with these, and I stumbled by luck into the opportunity to learn from a skilled group of museum educators how to use the visual arts to train observation skills, build empathy, and explore topics related to patient care and personal-professional identity and balance.  Later, I again happened upon collaboration with Dr. Amy Zelenksi, from whom I’ve learned the power of integrating improvisational theatre games into our shared work in the Empathy Course.  I am also an avid reader of fiction and poetry, which hone my reflective and empathic skills and provide me with a rich place to continue to explore humanity and find enjoyment and satisfaction.

I love writing and contribute to the humanities with my own storytelling as well as my role as editor of Family Medicine, which publishes a lot of narratives about family medicine practice and teaching.

I found my way to Medical Humanities through reading and writing, and enjoy co-teaching a seminar that challenges students to do both things creatively—exploring experimental and nontraditional forms of expression to enrich one’s experience as a clinician and lifelong learner.

Stories have always been central to my life and my way of processing the world around me and exploring patients’ stories is the most compelling part of my work as a physician. But sharing stories of the great joys and deep challenges of being a physician with learners and colleagues has been equally critical to my work and well-being.  I have the great pleasure and privilege to support storytelling in medicine as the faculty advisor to the UWSMPH student narrative medicine podcast What Brings You in Today and the student-run medical writing journal The Script as well as one of the editors of the SMPH Quarterly Alumni magazine’s Healer’s Journey feature.  I am an avid “reader” of audiobooks during my commute and an extreme devotee of The Nocturnists podcast, the best place I have found to hear medical stories that celebrate our humanity.

I use my writing skills every day with patients. When with a patient, I can describe illness or a disease process in a novel way. Writing allows me to reframe the tremendous trust that patients honor me with. Patients send me poems over MyChart, and I share my favorites with them. The humanities are a kite that give form to the changeable winds of my work.

As healthcare providers, we are trained to provide medical care, but there is very little focus on preparing us for the overwhelming and often messy intersections of joy, despair, fragility, futility, fallibility, exhaustion, frustration, compassion, fear, flailing, and fulfilment that we will experience in our careers. We aren’t just observers of our patients—we are, as Paul Farmer described, “accompagnateurs,” stepping inside patients’ experiences and accompanying them through their worst moments with empathy and expertise. Without tools to help process their (and our) journeys, we greatly increase our risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. As a Pediatric Hospitalist and Global Health Educator, I am grateful for the various facets of Medical Humanities that encourage and empower clinicians to reflect on, process, and share their impactful experiences.

Ebling Library’s Micaela Sullivan-Fowler is a curator of Rare Books & Special Collections as well as a public historian/librarian advising students and creating displays and exhibitions detailing the history of the health sciences. Micaela has been involved with Corpus Callosum since its inception, has contributed artwork to its content and remains one of the reviewers. She believes that the making and discussion of art can elevate all our lives, especially those of health care practitioners and researchers.

I am a pediatric emergency medicine physician. I participated in a Medical Humanities Certificate program during my medical school training and recognized how important reflection is. In healthcare, we face and experience a range of the human condition, as individuals, providers, and caregivers, as well as with our patients and their families, and using tools to help us cope and share with others is vital for our wellbeing. I strive to learn from my experiences and others while using the medical humanities as a tool in processing some of my emotions and the moral injury experienced in my practice.

It is the humanities, that sense of individual, cultural, societal, and experiential, that bring us in and bring us together. I come from a blended background.  My father was a mathematician; his passion, however, was in music.  My mother was accepted into the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop (but deferred to start a family).  She finished her master’s degree in literature (focused on T.S. Eliot) shortly before her death of ALS at age 52.  I am a family doc and a quantitative biologist… I work with numbers and analytics, odds ratios and p-values.  I have also dabbled in poetry and narrative writing, publishing a few things, and receiving eight John J Frey Writing Awards since 2010.

I rely on the humanities to gain a more comprehensive and deep understanding of medicine and to process my own experience as a physician. I help facilitate The Healer’s Art elective for M1/M2 students and I participate in narrative writing sessions for healthcare providers. I am also keep a semi-regular journaling practice and often turn to art or music to help me process strong emotions or challenges that come up in my clinical practice and personal life.

I’ve been reading books written by physicians since college, which shaped my awareness of and attraction to the raw humanity involved in a career in medicine. I deeply appreciate that being a physician, my patients invite me to accompany them through some of the most meaningful moments of their lives, where there is so much vulnerability, beauty, and sometimes suffering to try to alleviate. I’ve been exploring and incorporating medical humanities into my own life and that of my peers since college; it improves our comfort with uncertainty, ability to retain a beginner’s mindset, and reflect upon the meaning of our work. I continue to love reading pieces written by physicians today, have a journaling practice which is especially helpful to process tough encounters, and see my practice of medicine itself as an opportunity to continuously learn more about what it means to be a human.

Lia is one of the founding members and managing editor of Corpus Callosum, Ebling Library’s Journal of the Arts. An artist herself, she understands how critical art of all kinds is at both the societal and individual levels, and sees Ebling’s art initiatives as cultivating empathy, compassion, and curiosity in the campus community and beyond.

As a viola performance major in college, I entered medicine from a non-science background. Though imposter syndrome was a constant companion, I also appreciated that I had bypassed many of the pre-med stressors my classmates had endured. Twenty years later as faculty, I began learning mandolin, and it continues to be a surprisingly significant source of joy in my daily life. Over my career, music has served to help me maintain perspective, connect to my core values, and remember the challenges and joys of learning something new. As an educator and mentor, I enjoy advising students on connecting with their values and “true north” in a way that will sustain them throughout their careers. I believe that the humanities play an important role in supporting wellbeing, connectedness & career longevity.

My work focuses on teaching healthcare professionals how to engage in empathic behaviors with their patients, learners, and interprofessional colleagues; and how building skill in empathic behavior can increase the quality of teaching and patient care while decreasing burnout and personal distress. I have found the humanities to be the most powerful tools for teaching these concepts and grappling with them in the clinical environment.