MEDICAL BULLETIN

Students show creative side at art events

Surrounded by evidence of the creative talents of their fellow students are organizers of the most recent Artists in Medicine show, from left, David Jackowe, Justin Uhl, Claudia Muñoz and Zach Gordon.
PHOTO BY JOHN GERARD QUINN

Claudia Muñoz came to medical school at Case Western Reserve University holding an undergraduate degree in international relations from Stanford University and a master of public health degree from Tulane University. She also matriculated with eight years of experience as a professional dancer. Justin Uhl came to medical school in Cleveland with an undergraduate degree in molecular genetics from Ohio State University, where he participated in Men’s Glee Club and another ensemble.

Both have welcomed the School of Medicine’s Artists in Medicine (AiM) activities as means by which they can express their creative sides. Every year, the student-led group organizes an event to showcase the talents of students. The participation of faculty, staff and alumni of the medical school is embraced, also.

It was not an accident that both Muñoz and Uhl, and others like them, ended up enrolling in a medical school that nurtures their artistic sides as well as their academic ones.

“All of us are here at Case because we’re more than just a number, we’re more than just Medical College Admissions Test scores, more than just grade point averages,” said Muñoz, adding that her interest in Case’s medical school was captured by the school’s admissions brochure, which recognized medicine as an art as well as a science.

“I’m from California. I thought, ‘Why would I look at an Ohio school? It’d be so far from home.’ But that brochure really caught my attention because, having been in the professional world, I know that it’s such a blend of creativity and science and personality,” she said.

Uhl, a native Northeast Ohioan, agreed that Case’s medical school is special. “We’re immersed in science all the time, but we all have outside interests and creative interests that we pursued until we got to med school,” he said. “This is one of the few schools I’ve seen that has an outlet for us to show that throughout the school year.” The AiM show usually is held in December.

The most recent event marked the ninth time that medical students organized an AiM show, but each year, a new group of planners puts its own stamp on the event. Muñoz said she believes that the event started small and informally as students displayed their works in someone’s home. Then students moved the show to the student lounge at the medical school. In 2003, students split the event into two parts, a week-long exhibition of works in media such as painting, photography, pottery and sculpture in the student lounge, and a two-hour program featuring mainly vocal and musical talent at an establishment near campus. In 2004, admission remained free, but donations were accepted for medically related causes. “We’re trying to make it something that reaches more into the community and gives back into the community,” Muñoz said. She, Uhl, David Jackowe and Zach Gordon organized the most recent event.

“It’s really empowering to just be able to put yourself out there,” Muñoz said. “I sang [in 2003] for the first time in my life, and it was just so wonderful. And I’m not the only person who did that.

“We’re all friends. It’s a safe environment, and it’s a place to just say, ‘You know what? There’s no pass/fail here. There’s no grading.’ It’s just for the sake of doing something that you love. It’s fun, and I think it builds community. People are so supportive. I can’t sing, and people applauded me!”

It’s also a way for students to see another side of their peers, she said. “There’s some amazing talent that people bring, and you forget that because you get so embedded in what we’re doing in class.”

Uhl, who plans to specialize in pediatrics after graduation, adds, “It gives you perspective on what we’re going through right now. We’re trying to become physicians, but we’re trying to maintain the rest of our humanity as well.” Faculty participation is encouraging, he says, because it illustrates that it is possible to have a demanding career and maintain other interests as well.

—Lois A. Bowers