Jefferson Humanities & Health

Jefferson Humanities & Health Calendar

*Events marked with an asterisk can be counted toward the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate for Jefferson students.

^Events marked with an upward arrow can be counted toward the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate. 

2025-2026: Trust

June 2025

Monday, May 19 - Wednesday, June 18, Helix Gallery, Hamilton Building. By appointment.

Traveling Light brings together the unique perspectives of three medical students, Anish Basavalingiah, Ajay Garg, and Emma Tam, who are also passionate artists. The show features an array of travel photographs from wide-ranging locations, as well as charcoal drawing and fashion design. All the artists are contributors to the literary and arts journal Inside Out,, making this exhibition a true celebration of their multifaceted talents. 

Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, to make an appointment.

August 2025

Tuesday, August 19, 12-1PM, Hamilton 208/209. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Bring your questions about how to write about the Humanities programs you plan to attend during this academic year. Leave with fresh ideas about how you might turn your impressions into thoughtful, creative reflections as you complete your Asano portfolio.

We will focus mostly on written reflections, but will also touch on other forms of creative response to the events, topics, and experiences you will be collecting as an Asano candidate. You will leave this workshop with examples of concise essays and poems that might inspire your own reflections. We will also discuss how a reflective practice could help you grow and thrive throughout your career as a healthcare professional.

Led by Shawn Gonzalez, PhD, Assistant Director for Writing Services, Office of Academic & Career Success.

September 2025

Monday, September 15, BLSB 107, 5-6:30PM. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students.

In the first workshop of this series, we will focus on grounding and centering skills. The group will utilize art, music and movement and each participant will leave with a set of tools and skills that can be applied as needed throughout the school year.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

Thursday, September 25, 12-1PM, Eakins Lounge. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Sydelle Ross, MD, D.ABA is an anesthesiologist and pain specialist who currently practices hospice and palliative medicine. As a classical and jazz vocalist, she  incorporates music into her medical practice to provide comfort to patients and their loved ones in the context of  serious illness.  Dr. Ross also harnesses the power of music to mitigate the effects of burnout syndrome and promote resilience among healthcare workers.  

Dr. Ross has shared her work at the intersection of the arts and health at various conferences in the US and abroad.  Her work has also been featured in the acclaimed publication entitled Artists Remaking Medicine-The Practice of Imagination and the Power to Create a Better Healthcare Future

Dr. Ross serves on various arts in health committees and organizations, including the Music & Medicine Committee of the American Medical Women’s Association, and the International Association of Music and Medicine. 

October 2025

Monday, October 6, 12-1PM, JAH 407. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

A microaggression is an unintentional and unconscious action that can negatively affect our day-to-day human interactions. They cause real harm to individuals. There is a large amount of evidence that it can be a major factor in the creation of disparities in the healthcare environment that can ultimately lead to patient-care disparities.

In this session, we will define microaggressions, its documented effects in medicine, the concept of silent collusion, and the steps one can take to disarm the effects of microaggression.

At the end of the session, the attendees will be able to

• Define microaggressions.

• Give two examples of how microaggressions affect the patient care environment.

• Define “silent collusion.”

• Name at least three techniques to address a witnessed microaggression.

Facilitator: Bernard L. Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University.

Monday, October 6, 5-6:30PM, BLSB 107. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

In this in-person workshop, participants will use art, sound, movement, and mindfulness practices to anchor in our connection to the natural world. Participants are asked to please bring a photo of or an actual item from nature that you are drawn to or connect with, and paper/something with which to write. Weather permitting, we may do some of these exercises outdoors.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC).

Thuesday, October 9, 12-1PM, Hamilton 224/225. Lunch provided. Open to Hamilton 224/225.

Bring your questions about how to write about the Humanities programs you plan to attend during this academic year. Leave with fresh ideas about how you might turn your impressions into thoughtful, creative reflections as you complete your Asano portfolio.

We will focus mostly on written reflections, but will also touch on other forms of creative response to the events, topics, and experiences you have been collecting as an Asano candidate. You will leave this workshop with examples of concise essays and poems that might inspire your own reflections. We will also discuss how a reflective practice could help you grow and thrive throughout your career as a healthcare professional.

Led by Shawn Gonzalez, PhD, Assistant Director for Writing Services, Office of Academic & Career Success. 

Participants who have already attended the Asano Humanities Portfolio session on August 19 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session for Asano credit.

Thursday, October 23, 12-1PM, Hamilton 224/225. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

We all have a soundtrack that marks the many chapters of our lives. Teaching artist Josh Robinson will facilitate a reflection through your musical past, your stories, and the role music has played throughout your life. The workshop uses music as a vehicle to help participants connect to others and reconnect to themselves. Participants will be guided to reflect on the meaning of various songs in their lives and how music has helped them through both positive and negative experiences.

About the facilitator

Josh Robinson is a professional percussionist, teaching artist, and drum facilitator. He has been a visiting instructor in the Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University for the past four years and is in his second year as the Humanities artist-in-residence. For the past 19 years, Josh has used his skills, expertise, and life experience to share drumming and the many gifts it brings with thousands of people each year around the country.

November 2025

Wednesday, November 5, 12-1PM, Scott 200A. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Wendy Elliott-Vandivier, an artist and long-time disability advocate, will present information on her experiences as an artist and disability activist. She will show examples of her cartoons that focus on disability awareness and some of the microaggressions that disabled people experience as they try to live their ordinary, “un-inspirational” lives. She also will conduct a hands-on cartoon making workshop where attendees can create their own art about microaggressions, ableism and other forms of discrimination.

Wendy Elliott-Vandivier is a certified SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) with a diverse background in government civil rights enforcement, managing human resources in private industry, and community advocacy. Elliott-Vandivier has been a leader in the disability civil rights community for over 30 years. In her professional work, she has successfully managed human resources, employee relations, EEO, Affirmative Action and Diversity issues for several large businesses.

Elliott-Vandivier has a BFA from Temple University, Tyler School of Art. Her paintings explore issues of family, memory and experiences as a disabled woman. Her autobiographical cartoons focus on attitudinal barriers and stereotypes regarding disabilities, and some of the micro-aggressions that disabled people experience while living normal, un-inspirational lives. She is also a photographer of micro-scale monuments in nature, and is often inspired by close-up images that people often do not notice in daily life – tree bark, dead leaves, flower anatomy, and water

Monday, November 10, 12-1PM, BLSB 105. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff.

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) play a significant role in individual and population health outcomes. SDOH is affected by many factors. One factor is racism as it affects all aspects of SDOH. In this session, we’ll define racism, examine its history as it relates to the social determinants of health, and examine the city of Philadelphia’s health outcomes by neighborhood.

Objectives – at the end of the session, learners will be able to:

Define the institution of racism and its many forms, including structural racism

List 5 components of the Social Determinants of Health

Discuss the importance of structural competency

Discuss examples of structural racism’s effects as a barrier to health equity

Facilitator: Bernard L. Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University.

Monday, November 10, 12-1PM, Zoom. Open to Jefferson students.

Participants will be guided through a series of practices designed to bring peace and calm by connecting with the breath, body and creative spirit. Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop will take place online and is open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen. If you register and cannot attend, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance to make room for another participant. Thank you!

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC).

Friday, November 14, 12-1PM, BLSB 107. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Today, few people know that Africans, Arabs, and East Asians laid the foundation for modern immunizations during the early modern period. Unlike Western Europeans, Africans, Arabs, and East Asians had been practicing a rudimentary form of immunization for generations by the early eighteenth century. Indeed, generations of sub-Saharan West Africans were already familiar with smallpox inoculation, a precursor to the world’s first vaccines.

The rise of the transatlantic slave trade and American slavery had an indelible impact on the cultural significance of inoculation among eighteenth-century Europeans and Africans alike. In the early eighteenth century, European medical practitioners and slave owners learned of smallpox inoculation from West Africans and Arabs for the first time. They quickly appropriated the practice to control the spread of smallpox along Atlantic slave trading routes throughout Europe, West Africa, and the Americas. They used inoculation to protect their families, safeguard colonial settlements, and expand the slave trade and slavery.

Nevertheless, Africans and their descendants continued to perform inoculations in contexts where slavery and colonialism constantly threatened their social ties. In the process, people of African descent imbued inoculation with new significance as they struggled to maintain authority over the practice and protected and reaffirmed their communities’ intergenerational ties to place, ancestry, and kin.

Presenter: Dr. Elise A. Mitchell is a historian of the early modern Black Atlantic in the Department of History at Swarthmore College. She was previously an American Council of Learned Societies Fellow and a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in the History Department at Princeton University. Broadly, her work examines the social and political histories of embodiment, healing, disease, race, and gender in the early modern Atlantic World, with a focus on the Caribbean region. Her book, Morbid Geographies: Enslavement, Epidemics, and Embodiment in the Early Modern Atlantic World, is under contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press.

December 2025

Monday, December 1, 5-6PM, Zoom. Open to Jefferson students.

In order to effectively care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This virtual workshop will introduce you to a variety of art-based experiences designed to promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Facilitated by Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop will take place online and is open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen. If you register and cannot attend, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance to make room for another participant. Thank you!

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC).

January 2026

Thursday, January 8, 12-1PM, Hamilton 208/209. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Bring your questions about how to write about the Humanities programs you plan to attend during this academic year. Leave with fresh ideas about how you might turn your impressions into thoughtful, creative reflections as you complete your Asano portfolio.

We will focus mostly on written reflections, but will also touch on other forms of creative response to the events, topics, and experiences you have been collecting as an Asano candidate. You will leave this workshop with examples of concise essays and poems that might inspire your own reflections. We will also discuss how a reflective practice could help you grow and thrive throughout your career as a healthcare professional.

Led by Shawn Gonzalez, PhD, Assistant Director for Writing Services, Office of Academic & Career Success.

Participants who have already attended the Asano Humanities Portfolio sessions on August 19 or October 9 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session for Asano credit.

Monday, January 26, 5-6:30PM, BLSB 107. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Research has shown that our relationships with ourselves, others, and nature have a profound impact on physical health and psychological well-being. In this in-person workshop, we will use the arts to explore ways of building and maintaining this all-important sense of connection.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC. A light dinner will be served.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

February 2026

Monday, February 2, 12-1PM, BLSB 105. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

A microaggression is an unintentional and unconscious action that can negatively affect our day-to-day human interactions. They cause real harm to individuals. There is a large amount of evidence that it can be a major factor in the creation of disparities in the healthcare environment that can ultimately lead to patient-care disparities.

In this session, we will define microaggressions, its documented effects in medicine, the concept of silent collusion, and the steps one can take to disarm the effects of microaggression.

At the end of the session, the attendees will be able to

• Define microaggressions.

• Give two examples of how microaggressions affect the patient care environment.

• Define “silent collusion.”

• Name at least three techniques to address a witnessed microaggression.

Facilitator: Bernard L. Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University.

Students who attended the session on October 6, 2025 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session for Asano credit.

Thursday, February 5, 12-1PM, Ham 224/225. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff. 

We all have a soundtrack that marks the many chapters of our lives. Teaching artist Josh Robinson will facilitate a reflection through your musical past, your stories, and the role music has played throughout your life. The workshop uses music as a vehicle to help participants connect to others and reconnect to themselves. Participants will be guided to reflect on the meaning of various songs in their lives and how music has helped them through both positive and negative experiences.

About the facilitator

Josh Robinson is a professional percussionist, teaching artist, and drum facilitator. He has been a visiting instructor in the Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University for the past four years and is in his second year as the Humanities artist-in-residence. For the past 19 years, Josh has used his skills, expertise, and life experience to share drumming and the many gifts it brings with thousands of people each year around the country.

Students who attended the Soundtrack to Your Life session on October 23 for Asano credit are not eligible to count this session towards Asano.

Monday, February 9, 5-6:30PM, Ham 210/211. Light dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students.

It’s so easy to feel off-balance - to feel torn between polarities of work-rest, doing-being, dark-light, joy-sorrow…and to be knocked off-center by unexpected events or changes. In this workshop we will explore and engage in creative practices that promote an awareness of what balance/imbalance feels, sounds and looks like, and what helps us restore and return to a sense of balance.

Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC and Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is in-person and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

March 2026

Monday, March 9, 5-6PM, Zoom. Open to Jefferson students.

In this virtual, art-based workshop, participants will engage in a variety of practices designed to reduce stress. Learn how to identify the physical and emotional symptoms of stress and how to move through them to a more grounded and relaxed state. Facilitated by Sondra Rosenberg, ATR-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is virtual and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)

Monday, March 30, 5-6PM, Zoom. Open to Jefferson students.

In order to effectively care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This virtual workshop will introduce you to a variety of music-based experiences designed to promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Facilitated by Peggy Tileston, MT-BC.

About the Creative Approaches to Self-Care Series

In order to care effectively for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This interdisciplinary series is designed to engage students in self-care practices that promote healthy stress management and burnout prevention. Workshops will address topics including how to cope with stress and anxiety, cultivate relaxation techniques, find balance and develop self-compassion.

Please note: This workshop is virtual and open to Jefferson students only; pre-registration required. A Zoom link will be provided in the Eventbrite order confirmation and the event reminder from Eventbrite, which will be emailed 48 hours before the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact Kirsten Bowen.

Co-presented with the Student Counseling Center (SCC)