Jefferson Humanities & Health

Tuesday, October 14, 12-1PM. Hamilton 224/225. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Join us for a discussion of the chapters "Drowning" and "The Healing Algorithm" from Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery by Annie Liontas.

After suffering multiple concussions, Annie Liontas shares what it means to be one of the “walking wounded” in Sex with a Brain Injury. Liontas weaves history, philosophy, and personal accounts to interrogate and expand representations of mental health, ability, and disability—particularly in relation to women and the LGBT community. Liontas uncovers the surprising legacy of brain injury, examining its role in culture, the criminal justice system, and through historical figures like Henry VIII and Harriet Tubman. Facing fear, rage, physical suffering, and the effects of head trauma on their marriage and other relationships, Liontas reckons with their own queer mother’s battle with addiction and finds echoes in their pain. The hidden gift of injury, Liontas writes, is the ability to connect with others.

Copies of Sex with a Brain Injury will be available for students after the discussion. 

Facilitator:

Katherine Hubbard, MA, Teaching Instructor, JeffMD Humanities Selectives, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas or the JMD 153 or JMD 252 Asano Certificate courses on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in the Humanities & Health Canvas course. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator

About the Health Humanities Reading Group:

The Health Humanities Reading Group gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Tuesday, October 14, 4-5PM, BLSB 105. Pizza provided. Open to Jefferson students.

The Integrative Medicine club is partnering with Family Medicine to host an aromatherapy workshop to address evidence-based modalities that protect both patients and providers against stress and burnout. We will talk about what integrative medicine is, the paradigm shifts on stress management, and personal resources to build your coping toolbox. The session will include making your own fall-themed aromatherapy inhaler and pizza will be provided.

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Tuesday, October 14, JAH 207. 5-6PM. Refreshments provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Every person has a story. In this candid conversation series, we’ll talk with community members about their real experiences at the intersection of healthcare, wellbeing and identity. Each guest brings unique insights and expertise into problems of health that span social and clinical dimensions, and engage questions of access, equity and justice. Sessions will be led by an interprofessional team of Jefferson student moderators and include interactive Q&A with attendees.

Special guest: Noor Fitria

Nurul (Noor) Fitria came to the United States from Indonesia in 2018 and soon found herself grappling with the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, unstable housing, and navigating legal and healthcare systems. A cancer survivor, Noor knows firsthand the importance of sharing one’s story—especially with those who need to hear it most. She previously served as a Community Health Worker at Jefferson, where she used her own experiences to connect with patients in a genuine and meaningful way. Noor now works with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity, continuing her commitment to helping people find strength and healing through connection, advocacy, and support.

Community Voices is presented by the Jefferson College of Population Health, the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice & Education, and Jefferson Humanities & Health.

Questions? Please contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Wednesday, October 15, BLSB 105, 5-7PM. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Curated by Co-Directors and DEAFMed student liaisons Allie Capik, SKMC '27, Benedicta Olonilua, SKMC '26 and Natalie Perlov, SKMC '25, the DEAFMed series seeks to educate health professions students about Deaf culture & history and how to work with the Deaf community.

This lecture will cover the critical milestones in Deaf history, from the 19th century to the present (plus a few tidbits going as far back as Ancient Greece). You will learn about how politics, education, community, and other factors contributed to the current state of Deaf culture and community in the United States. Additionally, you will learn more about Deaf people in the arts from the 20th century to the present. We will be covering various Deaf experiences as expressed through the arts.

Presenter: Sam Hawk, ASL Instructor

SKMC students taking DEAFMed as a Humanities Selective who are also enrolled in the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate are not eligible to count these sessions towards Asano.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Tuesday, October 21, 12-1PM, Hamilton 224/225. Lunch and materials provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Take a creative pause in your day with artist Cassie Jones to learn the basics of embroidery. In this bite-sized, beginner-friendly workshop you’ll pick up essential stitches, spark your stitching confidence, and leave with a mini materials pack to keep the thread going at home. No experience needed—just bring your curiosity!

This workshop is 12-1PM but participants have the option of staying until 1:30PM if they are able.

Cassie Jones is traditionally trained in many types of arts and continues to search for more skillsets and experiences with visual arts. Cassie began her creative career working with leather under the brand CUSP by Cassie for many years before moving her sights into embroidery and embellishing. She is now continuing with the trend of fiber work while incorporating fired clay and mixing mediums into her practice. Cassie is currently building a new collection to show in galleries, instructing classes through The Craft Coven, Fleisher Art, and Black Hound Clay Studio, and facilitating learning opportunities with visiting artists and instructors.

Wednesday, October 22, Converation with the Author, 12-1PM, BLSB 105. Lunch provided.

Wednesday, October 22, Keynote Lecture, 4-5PM, DEC Forum, Lawrence N. Field DEC Center, East Falls Campus. 

Both events free and open to all.

After suffering multiple concussions in her thirties, Annie Liontas shares what it means to be one of the “walking wounded” in Sex with a Brain Injury. Facing their fear, their rage, their physical suffering, and the effects of head trauma on their marriage and other relationships, Liontas is forced to reckon with their own queer mother’s battle with addiction and finds echoes in their pain. Liontas weaves history, philosophy, and personal accounts to interrogate and expand representations of mental health, ability, and disability—particularly in relation to women and the LGBT community. They uncover the surprising legacy of brain injury, examining its role in culture, the criminal justice system, and through historical figures like Henry VIII and Harriet Tubman. The hidden gift of injury, Liontas writes, is the ability to connect with others.

Annie Liontas is the genderqueer author of the crip-queer memoir Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery, which won ALA's 2025 Stonewall Award for Nonfiction and was featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Their debut novel, Let Me Explain You, was selected as a New York Times Editors Choice in 2015 and was selected by the ABA as an Indies Introduce debut and Indies Next title. They co-host the podcast LitFriends and live in Philadelphia with their wife, dog, and Email the rabbit.

During 2025-2026, the Jefferson Humanities Forum hosts multidisciplinary scholars and thinkers to investigate the theme of Trust.

Co-presented by Jefferson Humanities & Health, the Philadelphia University Honors Institute at Thomas Jefferson University and the College of Humanities & Sciences as part of their Dietrich V. Asten Lecture Series, an endowed series established to sponsor lectures in the humanities, sciences, government and the arts.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

Wednesday, October 22, 12-1PM, Hamilton 208/209. Lunch provided.

In honor of Liver Cancer Awareness Month, the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) invites you to a discussion on liver cancer and hepatitis in collaboration with the Hepatitis B Foundation. This event will explore the intersection of advocacy, clinical care, and research, highlighting ongoing efforts to reduce disparities in liver disease. We will also discuss how Hepatitis B disproportionately affects Asian American communities, and what future healthcare professionals can do to promote equity and awareness in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

This is not a Jefferson Humanities & Health event but credit is available for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate and the Anti-Racism in Health Focus.

Wednesday, October 22, BLSB 105, 5-7PM. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Curated by Co-Directors and DEAFMed student liaisons Dominic Finan, SKMC '27, Benedicta Olonilua, SKMC '26 and Natalie Perlov, SKMC '25, the DEAFMed series seeks to educate health professions students about Deaf culture & history and how to work with the Deaf community.

In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to step into the shoes of DHH patients or clinicians serving DHH patients. This immersive event will provide a safe and supportive environment for participants to experience firsthand the challenges and triumphs of communication in the DHH community. Through engaging role play exercises, attendees will gain invaluable insights into Deaf culture, American Sign Language (ASL), and effective strategies for providing healthcare to Deaf individuals.

Presenters: Sam Hawk, Paul Thiergartner, and Karen Kennedy (experienced Deaf interpreters in medical settings)

SKMC students taking DEAFMed as a Humanities Selective who are also enrolled in the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate are not eligible to count these sessions towards Asano.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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.

Tuesday, November 4, 12-1PM, Scott Memorial Library 200A. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff. Lunch provided.

The Health Humanities Reading Group explores the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical cells, taken and used without her knowledge, have played a role in modernity as we know it: from vaccines to medicine to space travel. Lacks’ story is unique but also representative of the pervasive mistreatment of Black people by institutions of medicine, science, education, and healthcare.

Listening:

‘Henrietta Lacks’: A Donor’s Immortal Legacy, interview with Rebecca Skloot on Fresh Air here (2010) (audio: 37min)

Time: 37min of listening

Special guest discussant: Ana Mari­a Lopez, MD, MPH, MACP, Professor and Vice Chair, Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Chief of Cancer Services, Jefferson Health New Jersey, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

About HHRG

The Health Humanities Reading Group (HHRG) gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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

Wednesday, November 5, BLSB 105, 5-7PM. Open to Jefferson students, facilty, and staff.

Curated by Co-Directors and DEAFMed student liaisons Allie Capik, SKMC '28, Benedicta Olonilua, SKMC '26 and Natalie Perlov, SKMC '25, the DEAFMed series seeks to educate health professions students about Deaf culture & history and how to work with the Deaf community.

During this session, you can further develop your communication skills with Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, enhance your cultural competence, and refine your ability to collaborate with sign language interpreters. This skills reinforcement session aims to solidify attendees’ understanding and confidence in navigating healthcare interactions with the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

Presenters: Sam Hawk, Paul Thiergartner, and Karen Kennedy (experienced Deaf interpreters in medical settings)

SKMC students taking DEAFMed as a Humanities Selective who are also enrolled in the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate are not eligible to count these sessions towards Asano.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator

Thursday, November 6, 12-1PM, Eakins Lounge. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff.

Join Tambonito in a rhythmic journey through Latin and Brazilian percussion across the Caribbean and South America! Highlighting the connections and innovations in rumba, samba, and salsa, Tambonito's highly-interactive performance delivers rich cultural and historical context and deepens our appreciation for the diverse ways these popular music traditions cultivate community, communication, and creative expression, inspiring audiences of all ages in this collective celebration of music and rhythm.

The Humanities Concert Series is made possible through a generous gift from Deborah L. August, MD, MPH, and Robert H. Rosenwasser, MD, FACS, FAHA

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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).

Tuesday, November 11, 12-1PM, Scott Memorial Library 200A. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Join us for a discussion of an excerpt from the memoir What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo.

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo’s parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she’d moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Participants will be notified when the reading becomes available.

Copies of What My Bones Know will be available for students after the discussion. Lunch will be provided.

Facilitators:

Katherine Hubbard, MA, Teaching Instructor, JeffMD Humanities Selectives, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Jonathan Chou, MD, MS

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in the Humanities & Health Canvas course. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, at kirsten.bowen@jefferson.edu.

About the Health Humanities Reading Group:

The Health Humanities Reading Group gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Thursday, November 13, 12-1:30PM, Hamilton 224/225. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff. Lunch provided.

In conjunction with the Of Black Wombhood exhibit in the Helix Gallery, this Deep Listening Workshop emphasizes empathy and connection for medical professionals and humanities scholars, focusing on practical skills for audio interviewing and encouraging relational storytelling. Participants will learn to listen actively and think about what it takes to create a safe space for storytellers (particularly patients or community members). The workshop covers asking thoughtful, open-ended questions to elicit meaningful narratives, building trust with hesitant speakers, and capturing high-quality audio through basic recording techniques. Attendees will practice guiding conversations that uncover rich personal stories, applicable to oral histories, patient interviews, or humanities research.

Facilitator: Dr. Alissa M Jordan, Associate Director, Center for Experimental Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator. 

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.

Monday, November 17, 12-1PM, Hamilton 208/209. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff.

Prominently displayed in hospitals and many medical practices throughout the country, The Patient Bill of Rights provides the guidelines on what a patient can expect when hospitalized or in a doctor's office. Included in this document are the important guarantees of privacy of medical information, the right to a second opinion, the right to know the identity of a healthcare professional, the right to be part of medical decisions, and the right to receive treatment with respect and fairness, along with many other guarantees that will be covered in the lunchtime workshop. We will also discuss how each of the guidelines of The Patient Bill of Rights helps increase the success of better patient outcomes.

Facilitator: Bob Kieserman is the Retired Chair of the Healthcare Administration Program at the Arcadia University School of Global Business in suburban Philadelphia. For over 35 years, Bob taught his students how to run hospitals, medical practices, and nursing homes, and also prepared many of them for running a clinical practice. He earned his MBA at Temple University in 1984 and his MLIS at Rutgers University in 2006. Bob is the author of seven books on medical practice management and patient advocacy, and is the Founder and former Executive Director of The National Library of Patient Rights and Advocacy, a digital library that provides consumer health information to patients throughout the country and encourages patients and their healthcare providers to have a more open conversation with each other. He is recognized for his work and research on the patient/provider relationship and how patients can better advocate for themselves in the hospital and medical office.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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 art therapist Sondra Rosenberg.

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).

Tuesday, December 2, 12-1PM, Scott 200A. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students.

Join us for a discussion of an excerpt from The Afflictions by Vikram Paralkar.

The legendary Encyclopedia of Medicine is a dizzying collection of maladies: an amnesia that causes everyone you’ve ever met to forget you exist, while you remain perfectly, painfully aware of your history. A wound that grows with each dark thought or evil deed you commit but shrinks with every act of kindness. A disease that causes your body to imitate death, stopping your heart, cooling your blood. Will the fit pass before they bury you—or after?

The Afflictions is a magical compendium of pseudo-diseases, an encyclopedia of archaic medicine written by a contemporary physician and scientist. Little by little, these bizarre and mystical afflictions frame an eternal struggle: between human desire and the limits of bodily existence.

Participants will be notified when the reading becomes available.

Copies of The Afflictions will be available for students after the discussion. 

Facilitator:

Katherine Hubbard, MA, Teaching Instructor, JeffMD Humanities Selectives, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session. To access the reading, participants must visit the Health Humanities Reading Group module in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas. Most Asano students are already users in the Humanities & Health Canvas course. If that is not the case, participants may email Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator,

About the Health Humanities Reading Group:

The Health Humanities Reading Group gathers regularly to think critically about health as it is understood through various disciplinary perspectives, social contexts and value systems. This ongoing program is open to students, faculty and staff, and offers an informal learning environment facilitated by participants. Participants are expected to read, and come prepared to discuss, the text selected for each session.

Wednesday, December 3, 12-1PM, Helix Gallery, Hamilton Building. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty and staff.

In Call & Response: Exploring mindfulness and empathy through images of Black Wombhood, artist Misty Sol uses a series of interdisciplinary creative exercises to reflect on the complicated relationship between Black womb bearing bodies and modern medicine. Through play students will deepen their understanding of the themes presented in the artworks of the Of Black Wombhood exhibit in Helix Gallery, specifically as they relate to health & fertility, culture, and identity, while increasing their capacity for mindfulness and empathy.

Misty Sol's interdisciplinary practice is like a sepia toned family photo album in technicolor. Misty explores Black people’s connections to nature, wellness, and speculation. Misty Sol currently serves as the director of Tiny Farm Wagon, a fiscally sponsored project dedicated to public art and wellness. Her work has been exhibited at the Wolfhound Studio in the Zhou B. Art Gallery in Chicago, Burlington College, Headlong Theatre, The Moore College of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Vox Populi, Bartram's Gardens, the Philadelphia Airport, and Widener University. In 2021, her paintings made their international debut on the set of the NBC sitcom Grand Crew now streaming on HULU. And in 2022 her work appeared on the Oprah Network show, "All Rise", now streaming on Amazon. Her painting are currently on display at the Colored Girls Museum in Philadelphia.

Students who attended the Call & Response session on September 30 for Asano Humanities & Health Certificate credit are not eligible to count this session for Asano credit.

Wednesday, January 7, 5-6:30PM, Connelly Auditorium, Hamilton Building. Dinner provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

Third-year medical student Kishan Patel shares his cancer journey in this candid lecture and conversation event. Cancer isn’t something that starts and finishes, it’s something that you live with. My message is that patients are humans, too. Treating patients like humans will make them want to be treated and come back to see you. It will help build the patient-clinician relationship that we hear about in the curriculum but aren’t really taught how to encourage. Ever since I was diagnosed and went through cancer, I’ve had a more positive outlook in life. I hope that by sharing my perspective and experience, it will encourage others to have a more positive outlook, too, especially in professional/graduate school when life is already hard.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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 art therapist Sondra Rosenberg. 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)

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 art therapist Sondra Rosenberg.

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)

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

Everyone needs some down time but not the guilt that comes when we think we are not being productive. Why not relax and be productive by joining us for some yarn work? Spend some time with Dr. Elizabeth Spudich, Dr. Abigail Kay and Dr. Jenna Hagerty learning how to knit or crochet; or if you are already skilled come and share your talent.

Each student will get a kit including yarn, hooks or needles (depending on your chosen craft), some basic patterns, and other surprises!

Students will work on creating scarves that they can keep for themselves, gift to a loved one, or donate to JeffHope.

Facilitators:

Dr. Jenna Hagerty, Assistant Professor, Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dr. Abigail Kay, MA, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs & Undergraduate Medical Education, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Dr. Elizabeth Spudich, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chief, Anatomy Education Division, Department of Medical Education, JeffMD Anatomy Thread Director, JeffMD Cardiopulmonary Block Co-Director, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Questions? Please contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, Office of Student Affairs.

Monday, March 2, 12-1PM, JAH 207. Lunch provided. Open to Jefferson students, faculty, and staff.

What makes the ideal physician is something we all grapple with since the very first day of medical school. Renowned ethicist Edmund Pellegrino tried to answer that question in a JAMA article of 50 years ago, where he boiled it down to three C’s: Competence, Compassion, and Culture. We all agree with competence and compassion, but what about culture? That rubric comprises seven personal qualities that are fundamental for the physician's ability to unleash the self-healing energies of the patient, and they are: 1) Attentive (active) listening; 2) Eye contact; 3) Compassionate touch; 4) Empathy; 5) Comfort with ambiguity; 6) Humor (especially of the self-deprecating kind, since not only it lifts others but also prevents narcissism); and 7) A philosophy of life that by bordering on stoicism can provide resilience. Hence, this presentation will review these interpersonal traits, which are often considered 'fluff' by some physicians, while in reality they are the intangibles that make all the difference.

Presenter:

SALVATORE MANGIONE, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the SKMC of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he also directs the Humanities and History of Medicine courses.

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator.

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 art therapist Sondra Rosenberg.

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)