Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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, …
Biography 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, …
Biography 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 …
Biography 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 …