Exploring the intersection of the arts with justice in healthcare.

Credit: “Reimagined Pain” Video and Music created by Do Hyun Yun, Reimagining Medicine Festival 2.0

This project was born from the need to address the devastating impacts of systemic racism on health outcomes for people of color in the United States. From maternal mortality to the impacts of COVID-19, Black, Brown, Latinx, and indigenous communities have disproportionately experienced poor quality and access to care compared to their White counterparts—outcomes that begin with biased perspectives. To change perspective, we need the tried and true medium that forces people to critically reflect. We need art.

The Reimagining Medicine Festival is a traveling virtual festival that aims to bring art and healthcare together.

Our goals include re-examining healthcare aims, discussing creative solutions, and sharing honest artwork to work towards true equity in medicine.

Each year, artists from all walks of life create heartfelt visual, movement, literary, or musical pieces to address the theme set by the festival curators each year.

The festival is hosted annually by passionate medical students at a selected medical school, with lectures and discussions on the importance of using arts in medicine. The festival is supported by the American Medical Women’s Association Dance, Medicine, and Theater Task Force and the Aseemkala Initiative.

At the end of the week, selected performances are shared globally through our YouTube channel for all to view.

  • Theme: Addressing Racism and Racial Equity in Medicine

    Curators: Adina Harri, Carly Ratekin, Marilyn Kouassi-Brou

    Speakers: Dr. Manish Mishra, Dr. Emily Walton, Dr. Maria Mercedes Avila

    Artists: Shey Rivera Rios (poetry), Andrew Lee (music) , Isha Parupudi (dance), Peggy Brightman (poet), Maymunah Ahmed (poet), Leila Mire (dance), Rhoda Moise (poet), Nithya Ramesh (dance), Manzi Linny Derrick (visual art), Aseemkala Initiative (dance)

    Links to Performances

    Funding: DICE and Geisel Med

  • Theme: Addressing Mental Health and Recovery from COVID-19

    Curators: Dealla Samadi, Kate Cox, Hina Iqbal, Maya Roytman

    Speakers: Dr. John D’Orazio, Dr. April Hatcher, Dr. Robert Slocum

    Artists: Elizabeth Spencer (Visual Art), Sophia Salingaros/IndianRaga (Dance), Alec Dupont (Music), Larkyn Rogers (Visual Art), Soma Chakraborty Patra (Dance), Catherine B Perkins (Poet), Livia Burberry (Music), Shreya Srivastava, Catherine Cyril, and Shivali Gupta/Aseemkala Initiative (dance), Kristin Smith (Visual Art), Do Hyun Yun (Digital Art)

    Funding: UK Gaines Center for Humanities, American Medical Women’s Association Dance and Theater Task Force, UK VITALS Club

    Link to Performances

    Link to Roundtable Discussion

  • Theme: Metamorphosis

    Curator: Sophia Salingaros, Andrea Samson, Jasmine Thomas

    Funding: AMWA Dance and Theater Task Force,

    Speakers: Tanmoy Lala Das, MD, PhD, J Lind (singer/songwriter), Ben Grant (Dance)

    Artists: Indu Vaddiparti (Carnatic Music), Rhoda Moise, PhD (Traditional African Dance), Vidushi Tripathi (Raas Dance), J Lind (music)

    Funding: Weill Cornell Medical School

    Link to Performances

  • Theme: Nature vs Nurture: Perspectives of Health

    Curator: Shreya Ramanathan, Alyssa Chen, Becky Cox, Sana Kamboj, Emory Undergraduate Medical Review Board, Andrea Samson, Jasmine Thomas, Kate Cox, Shilpa Darivemula

    Funding: AMWA Dance and Theater Task Force, Emory Undergraduate Medical Review

    Speakers: Pending

    Artists: Pending

    Link to Performances Coming Soon (Apri 4-5, 2024)

Meet the curators for the festival through the years

Apply to host the festival at your institution

Learn More