Humanities Week 2023

HUMANITIESWEEK

The Humanistic Medicine Program (HMP) is part of the Office of Student Affairs at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The HMP offers co-curricular opportunities for medical students–and the larger NYU Langone Health (NYULH) community to engage with, and explore topics in, humanities and bioethics.

We encourage our community to pursue their creative and intellectual interests at the intersection of medicine with the arts, humanities, ethics, and social sciences. Our workshops, research opportunities, and community collaborations foster critical thinking, ethical deliberation, and improve communication.

The program includes five main initiatives:

Seminars: 6-8 weeks in length

Workshops: Single events

Agora Magazine: Arts and literature publication

Gold Humanism Honor Society

Academic offerings: Scholarly concentrations and summer fellowships

HUMANITIES WEEK 20 20 23 23

The Humanistic Medicine Program is excited to present the inaugural Humanities Week. This week is an opportunity for the NYULH community to explore humanities experiences. Humanities foster interdisciplinary thinking and offer a wellness outlet. This is a space where we can celebrate all the voices of our institution patient, clinician, caregiver, researcher, and loved one while simultaneously processing our experiences, considering other perspectives, decompressing, and enjoying performances.

HUMANITIES WEEK SCHEDULE

MONDAY

APR 24

TUESDAY

APR 25

Agora Magazine Reception

By invitation only

Elevate Storytelling Workshop

APR 26

THURSDAY

APR 27

Music Performances

WEDNESDAY Health Narratives Workshop

Carousel: Graphic Medicine Show

Dance Performances

Monday, April 24, 5:30-7pm

Reception to celebrate publication of Agora

By invitation only

I N T R O

Weexploredifferentkindsoftransitionseachday.Eachtransition grantsusinsight Theyrecur,assert,andstabilizethenotionthatitisa temporaryphaseofacyclicprocess.Orderandinterruptionare embeddedwithineachother Inthecaseofdiseases,interruptionscan quicklygofrombeingamedicalproblemforafewindividuals,toa global,social,andeconomicconcern.Inthepastthreeyears,the pandemicchangedourrelationshipswitheachother,ourinstitutions, andourselves.

Whileemergingintothisnewphaseofthepandemic,weneedtotake timetoreflectonhowwe'vechanged asindividualpeopleandasa community Wealwayshaveachoiceonhowtoconfronttheseneverendingloopsoftransition Ourprofoundlychangedrealitiescanbe embracedbyhowwerespond,reflect,andreact.Wedetermine whetherwemakeormarthefutureforourselvesandourchildren We cangrowdespiteuncertaintimeswhilepausing,listening,andbeing empathetictotheexperiencesandperspectivesofothers.

ThisissueofAgora thefirstsince2018 hasthethemeof"Transitions."

Wewidenedtheauthorshiptoexplorehowrecenteventshave impactedstudents,patients,healthcare,thescientificcommunity,and societyatlarge.WesharethechangesexperiencedbyNYUGrossman SchoolofMedicine,NYULangoneHealth,andthelargerNewYorkCity community.Agoraisapublicplacethatgracefullyarticulatesliterary, audible,andvisualartstoconsiderthehumanisticelementsof medicineandhealthcare

Whilegarneringglimpsesofhowrecenteventshaveimpactedthe worldanddreamsforthefuture,wewereunabletoanswerthe questionofhowtobetterprepareourselvesforchange.Weaimedto bringfortheveryauthor'swayofdealingwiththechangesthatlieahead Anapproachtogetupendedlivesbackontrackwhilerecognizingthat transitioncreatesopportunitiestothinkdifferentlyaboutthepresent Publishedherearesomereflectionsonhowwehaveeachchanged andhowtonurtureourselvesandourcommunities.

Aswemoveforward,letusapproachtransitionswithpurposeand standtogetherforanequitablefuture Whilelisteningtodiverse perspectivesandworkingcollaboratively,hopefully,Agorainspiresyou alltolearnandgrowintheprocess.

ThankyoutotheentireAgorateamformakingtheseparallelshappen. Tothosebiddingadieusinthefaceofgraduation,wehopeyou rememberthisissueofAgoraandcontinuetoevolvewithourtime, place,andcommunity.

Agora Editorial Board

A public place for articulating literary, audible, and visual arts to consider the humanistic elements of medicine and healthcare; to develop empathy for people with different experiences and perspectives; to reflect on experiences caring for others; and to evolve our personal and professional identities as they intersect with our time, place, and community.

Transitions: 2022-23 Theme

During the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters, the Agora Editorial Board invited our community to share with us changes that they have experienced in the past, how recent events have impacted the world, and dreams for the future. Hopefully, we all learn and grow in the process.

Editorial Board Members

2022-23 academic year

Noor Abi Rached

Daniel Alber

Emily Bi

Arundhati Chavan

Sabrina Chen

Nikita Chintalapudi

Diego Laboy Morales

Reagan Menz

Ashwath Muruganand

Christina Oh

Christine Olagun-Samuel

Alex Prete

Corinne Rabbin-Birnbaum

Rubin Smith

Chidera Ubah

Christina Woo

Special Thanks

Agora cover art (p. 5)

Agora logo (p. 7)

Claire Young, Sagittal Plane

Ashwath Muruganand

We invite you to pick up this year's edition of Agora in the Office of Student Affairs or view all pieces on our website at www.agoramagazine.org.

Tuesday, April 25, 6-7:30pm

Smilow Multipurpose Room

Elevate Storytelling Workshop for Healthcare Professionals

Elevate Storytelling Workshops provide an opportunity for participants to enhance communication, build confidence, and explore health and well-being.

This 90-minute exploration will leverage movement, gesture, and play to support individual expression and promote interpersonal empathy and understanding. Diving into asymmetrical relationships between clinicians and patients, participants will begin to put themselves in the shoes of others.

Facilitators:

Christina D. Eskridge

P. Tyler Britt

No previous experience or knowledge about theatre is necessary. This workshop will involve movement, please dress comfortably and indicate any accommodation needs on the registration form.

Tuesday, April 25, 6-7:30pm

Smilow Multipurpose Room

About the Facilitators

Christina D. Eskridge, MPH

is the founder and executive director of Elevate Theatre Company LLC, an organization dedicated to creating space for audiences and artists to explore health and well-being through the art of storytelling. A performer, teaching artist, director, playwright, and public health professional, Christina believes live theater is a healing tool, ripe with opportunity to build community and promote well-being.

P. Tyler Britt

is a Theatre Practitioner and Teaching Artist P Tyler's teaching artistry is currently featured online via WNET/PBS, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Queens Public Library (NYC), Brooklyn Public Library (NYC), and the New Victory Theater

Wednesday, April 26, 8:30-10:30am

Alumni Hall B

Music Performances

The Humanistic Medicine Program invited the NYULH community to apply to share their musical talents as part of Humanities Week. We are pleased to have four distinct sets performing on Wednesday morning.

Musicians:

Argentine Tango Duo AR: Stratos Achlatis and Alejo de los Reyes

Perfect Strangers: Claire Kolensky and Bob Blatchley

Rinaldo Morelli

Frederick Licciardi

We encourage people to come listen to live music on Wednesday morning and stay however long their schedule permits from five minutes to the whole two hours.

We will have bagels and coffee for people to enjoy during performances.

Argentine Tango Duo AR

Stratos Achlatis and Alejo de los Reyes

The duo explores and deconstructs the most intimate tango melodies of the golden era of Buenos Aires. Argentine guitarist, Alejo de los Reyes recently started his collaboration with Greek-

born vocalist, Stratos Achlatis out of the need for the simplicity and clarity of the poetic aspect of tango. Alejo has three personal albums as a solo guitarist and three albums with his trio, Fulanos de Tal. Stratos is a senior research coordinator at the NYU Voice Center, a clinic for the treatment of voice disorders, and the band leader of Los Peores del Tango He is about to release his second album Sueños Porteños, later this spring

Wednesday, April 26, 8:30-10:30am

About the Musicians

Perfect Strangers

Claire Kolensky and Bob Blatchley is an acoustic/vocal duo performing polished arrangements of classic rock tunes. You can hear them perform at various venues across Long Island including the vineyards

Rinaldo

Morelli,

MA, MT-BC, LCAT

is a Board Certified Music Therapist, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, and currently the Senior Creative Arts Therapist on the Adult Neurology Unit at NYULH. Rinaldo has provided music therapy services to a variety of populations including children and adults with developmental delays, Autism Spectrum Disorders, psychiatric illness, substance abuse, epilepsy, and general neurology.

Frederick Licciardi

is a NYU Program Director in Reproductive Endocrinology. He is performing unplugged versions of select songs from his recently released album Susceptible, recorded with a legendary team at Nashville's Sound Stage Studio. You can find his album on Spotify.

Wednesday, April 26, 11:00-12:30pm

Science Building, G-19

Drawing Signs, Symptoms, and Complex Health Narratives

Health and illness affect us in ways that are observable and measurable with signs such as skin lesions or altered body temperature. However, illness and health are also accompanied by symptoms: subjective states including anxiety, pain, or cognitive impairment that aren’t easy to objectively measure. Adding to the dynamics of patient care are the conversations between patients and their healthcare providers. Misunderstanding and omitting information can complicate provider/patient relationships, impede care, and make captivating graphic medicine narratives particularly when drawn information conflicts with, or is enhanced by, narrative text.

In this workshop we will examine the ways in which cartoonists draw objective and subjective physical and mental states of being, practice drawing these different states, “diagnose” each other’s drawings, and create graphic medicine images that incorporate the health dynamics of signs, symptoms, emotions, and identity.

Kriota Willberg

Facilitator: Participants with no, any, and all, levels of drawing experience are welcome! There will be a quick tutorial for drawing newbies.

Drawing supplies will be provided.

Wednesday, April 26, 11:00-12:30pm

Science Building, G-19

About the Facilitator

Artist-in-Residence with the Humanistic Medicine Program

Kriota Willberg, MFAIA, LMT is best known for Draw Stronger: Self-Care for Cartoonists and Visual Artists (Uncivilized Books) Her comic Silver Wire was nominated for a 2019 Ignatz Award. Once the inaugural artist-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine Library, she's now the artist-in-residence with the Humanistic Medicine Program at NYUGSOM. In her capacity as artist-in-

residence, she designs and facilitates art workshops each semester that are open to students, staff, and faculty. These workshops intersect across her areas of expertise, from massage therapy to drawing, bioethics, anatomy, and embroidery. Additionally, she leads Art and Anatomy, one of the most popular Humanistic Medicine seminars, where people have the opportunity to draw from bones, organs, and cadavers.

Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-8:00pm

Murphy Auditorium

Carousel: The Graphic Medicine Show

Carousel is the longest-running series of graphic novel readings and visual performances by cartoonists and theater arts, hosted by R. Sikoryak.

This edition features presentations with live narration and projected images in the field of graphic medicine: comics that tell stories about medical education and patient care.

Featured performances and readings by:

Isabella Bannerman

Michael Natter

Josh Neufeld

Gianna Paniagua

Lauren R. Weinstein

Kriota Willberg

Host: R. Sikoryak.

More information is available at carouselslideshow.com

Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-8:00pm Murphy Auditorium

About the Performers

Isabella Bannerman

has been the Monday cartoonist for King Features’ Six Chix, the all-women daily comic strip, since 2000. She has also been a contributor and editor to World War 3 Illustrated, the annual political anthology comic book. Her interest in graphic medicine began in 2013, when she illustrated her sister’s story, Palliative Care.

Michael Natter

identifies as an artist and humanist He is also a board certified Endocrinologist at NYU. Natter utilizes his background in art to help learn and teach medicine, while also coping with the sometimes difficult nature that is the practice of medicine

Josh Neufeld

JoshComix.com

is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist known for his nonfiction narratives of political and social upheaval, told through the voices of witnesses Neufeld has been a Knight-Wallace Fellow in journalism, an Atlantic Center for the Arts Master Artist, and a Xeric Award winner. His works include A.D: New Orleans After the Deluge and The Influencing Machine

Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-8:00pm Murphy

About the Performers

Gianna Paniagua

is a two-time heart transplant recipient of 30+ years, paper cutting sculptor, and graphic medicine artist who is from and based in NYC She utilizes her lifetime of experiences in medicine to create artwork about the dualities of the human body, as well as comics that ask questions about the chronic illness patient experience Her lifelong goal is to find solutions to problems that exist in the field of transplantation for young adult patients.

Lauren R. Weinstein

is a cartoonist and artist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Nautilus, and The Guardian, among many other outlets. For the past twenty years, her funny, beautiful, and bizarre comics and graphic novels have addressed universal human issues such as mortality, time, motherhood, and most recently, domestic violence.

Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-8:00pm Murphy Auditorium

About the Performers

R. Sikoryak

is the author of Constitution Illustrated, Masterpiece Comics, Terms and Conditions, and The Unquotable Trump (Drawn & Quarterly) His comics and illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, The Onion, MAD, and more. Since 1997, he's presented his live comics performance series, Carousel, around the US and Canada.

Kriota Willberg

is a massage therapist and cartoonist. She's best known for Draw Stronger: Self-Care for Cartoonists and Visual Artists (Uncivilized Books). Her comic Silver Wire was nominated for a 2019 Ignatz Award Once the inaugural artist-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine Library, she's now the artist-inresidence with the Humanistic Medicine Program at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Thursday, April 27, 6:30-8:30pm

Schwartz Lecture Hall E

Dance Performances

Dance has the power to explore and share ideas, emotions, and experiences These performances feature a variety of dance styles, each inspired by an element of health, healthcare, or medicine.

Two of the dancers, Shreya Srivistava and Monica Shah, are fellows with the Aseemaka Initiative, a group of artists and scientists who use different forms of traditional dance to tell stories relating to healthcare injustice.

Two of the performers, Kisara Nonaka and Sumire Ishige, are dancers with Barkin/Selissen Project, a New York-based contemporary dance company that develops choreography inspired by complexities of human nature, science, linguistics, and mathematics alike.

The fifth performer, Chloe Chaudhury, is a fourth-year medical student at NYU Grossman School of Medicine who is passionate about community health, advocacy, and dance

Following the performances, we will invite all the performers, joined by choreographer Kyla Barkin, to the stage for a brief talkback. During this time, we will ask for questions from the audience.

We invite everyone to join us in the Schwartz lobby for dessert.

Program:

Shreya Srivastava: Imbalance

Chloe Chaudhury: Study of Reminiscence

Barkin/Selissen Project: Hot Knife in Cold Butter/Flo Through Me (excerpts)

Performed by Kisara Nonaka and Sumire Ishige

Monica Shah: In the Strength of Stillness

Barkin/Selissen Project: Resonant Imaging

Performed by Sumire Ishige

Panel Discussion & Audience Questions Reception

About the Dancers

Shreya Srivastava

is a third-year medical student at Albany Medical College in Albany, NY, and a board member of the Aseemkala Initiative. Prior to attending medical school, she majored in music at Union College and has trained in Bharatanatyam for over 18 years at the Natya Dharmi Foundation for Performing Arts in Michigan. She is interested in the intersection of performing arts and medicine, and how narrative medicine can be diversified with the inclusion of global art forms.

Imbalance

Dancers spend years trying to establish the required posture and structure for their dance forms. But with illness, such structure is difficult to maintain vestibular disorders, sensory disorders, chemotherapy, and many other disease or treatment processes can drastically weaken the body, making it difficult to achieve a sense of stability and strength. This performance explores the progression of a vestibular and sensory disease process in an individual that changes the way they interact with their everyday environment. The clear, structured form of Bharatanatyam that the dancer opens with slowly deteriorates into asymmetry and irregularity. But despite this change, the dancer still finds grace and meaning in what their body allows them to do.

Thursday, April 27, 6:30-8:30pm

Schwartz Lecture Hall E About the Dancers

Chloe Chaudhury

(she/they) is a graduating fourthyear medical student at NYUGSOM. While at Auburn University studying biochemistry and dance, they led the only co-ed hip-hop dance team on campus Chloe has over 20 years of dance experience in a wide variety of movement forms, including tap, jazz, modern, postmodern, hip-hop, Kuchipudi, and others. They have also choreographed for numerous shows, teams, and performances Chloe served as co-president

of SpinDocs, the NYUGSOM dance club during their M1/M2 years. They recently matched into family medicine at Institutes for Family Health, Harlem/Mount Sinai, and have particular interests in community-based participatory research, advocacy, adolescent medicine, addiction medicine, LGBTQ+ health, and teaching

Study on Reminiscence

This post-modern, release technique-inspired piece is a sitespecific (and time-specific) dance bulit upon the memories my classmates and I have had on this specific stage, in this specific lecture hall Schwartz Lecture Hall E The guiding forces for the movement are breath and the physical, topological layout of the space, with attention to the podium, stadium seating, narrow stage width, and various other elements. The piece explores the contrast between the Schwartz E we knew before the COVID-19 pandemic and the Schwartz E peri-pandemic, thus reflecting the myriad struggles and strengths of the classes of 2022 and 2023.

Thursday, April 27, 6:30-8:30pm

Schwartz Lecture Hall E

About the Dancers

Monica Shah

is an independent dance artist who performs in both classical and contemporary Indian dance styles. She has trained in Bharatanatyam for over 30 years with complimentary work in movement forms such as improvisation, modern dance, and yoga. Monica performed and toured

North America as a senior member of the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company for over a decade and has since performed as a soloist and guest artist in dance productions in the US and Canada. Monica is also a licensed psychologist, providing mindfulness and acceptance-based CBT treatment to people across age ranges, as well as community workshops and outreach to increase access to mental health services.

In the Strength of Stillness

This piece examines the strengtht that lies in stillness. We live in a world that is constantly moving, and yet in moments of quiet, we connect with our power Using both Indian classical and contemporary vocabulary, an energetic play is created between audience and performer through rhythmic footwork, silence, and sound. Mindful awareness is invoked through focused attention. Through surrendering to stillness, we find a force within us that cannot be shaken.

Thursday, April 27, 6:30-8:30pm

Barkin/Selissen Project

Kyla Barkin

is the Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer of Barkin/Selissen Project, a NYC-based contemporary dance company in its 14th year. She has been performing, teaching, choreographing, and touring for nearly 30 years, and works extensively with unique cross-topic collaborations, especially at the intersection of the arts, communication, health, and science. Barkin is also a Fitness Professional, Medical Exercise Specialist, Yoga teacher, and therapist.

Sumire (Sue) Ishige

was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina She has also attended the American Dance Festival and National Ballet School of Canada summer intensives, and has been part of the Merce Cunningham Trust Workshop. Sumire has performed with McKoy Dance Project, Boston Dance Theater, WHITE WAVE, Parsons Dance Company, and J Chen Project. She is currently a co-rehearsal director for Pony Box Dance Theatre, and a dancer for Barkin/Selissen Project.

Kisara Nonaka

is originally from Osaka, Japan. She began her dance training when she was three years old. In 2018, she came to New York City to study at Peridance Capezio Center. She has danced with Julia Ehstrand, the Next Stage Project, Elisabetta Minutoli, and others. Furthermore, she has done a scholarship and an apprenticeship with Jennifer Muller/The Works (2018-19). She is very pleased to be working with Barkin/Selissen Project.

Thursday, April 27, 6:30-8:30pm

Schwartz Lecture Hall E

Barkin/Selissen Project

Hot Knife in Cold Butter / Flo Through Me (Excerpts, 2016)

Choreography: Kyla Barkin, in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers: Kisara Nonaka, Sumire Ishige

This series of vignettes is a crisp yet tender dissection of movement and relativity. Inspired by life, nature, intellectual curiosity, and complex intimate spaces, this piece meditates on humanity's abstract and visceral connection with time, beings, space, and sound In the excerpts presented this evening, you will see different sections of the full evening length work that act specifically as a representation of the imminent approach, battle with, and freedom from a cancer.

Resonant Imaging (2009)

Choreography: Kyla Barkin

Dancer: Sumire Ishige

Projection Design: Lindsey Boise

Derived from multiple MRI-inspired thoughts, this solo with 3D projection is a multi-media journey through the surrealistic experience of the mind that explores how one expresses ideas and feelings beyond the individual's own physically demonstrable capacity.

Acknowledgements

Humanistic Medicine Program Leadership

Co-directors: Michael Tanner and David Oshinsky

Program Manager: Jordan Reif

Thank you to all staff members in the Office of Student Affairs for their support.

Minerva Figueroa, Olivia Haines, Odessa Elmore, Kate Foster, Elizabeth Mendy, Pat Finnerty, Anita Saini, Emily Wolschlag, Zoe Liberman, and Victoria Dinsell

Thank you to former OSA director, Pamela Belluomini, for her guidance and encouragement in curating the first Humanities Week.

Thank you to all staff in NYULH facilities, catering, and environmental services who made Humanities Week possible.

Thank you to the artists, authors, poets, musicians, and dancers amateur or professional at NYULH and in the larger New York community who advocate for health humanities.

Give Feedback

We strongly encourage you to provide feedback on any or all events you attended during Humanities Week. This evaluation is entirely anonymous and will be used to improve humanities programming:

https://bit.ly/humanitiesweek2023eval

Offered to all NYULH-affiliates:

Select humanistic medicine seminars and workshops: At least one workshop per month between September-May Seminars begin in September and January Submit to Agora Magazine Submission portal opens at the start of each semester

Offered to NYUGSOM students

Propose humanities and bioethics topics for events All humanistic medicine seminars and workshops Join Agora Editorial Board or submit pieces for consideration Scholarly concentration in humanities and bioethics Summer fellowship project in humanities and bioethics

We are always open to collaborations within NYULH and with NYbased organizations and community groups.