A gift from the Marmor Foundation at the direction of Michael F. Marmor, AB ’62, MD ’66, is poised to deepen the presence of the arts and humanities in student life at Harvard Medical School, creating new opportunities for cultural exploration on campus and beyond.
“Regular exposure to art, music, and literature helps people see a variety of achievements in the world and appreciate different people and traditions,” says Marmor, professor of ophthalmology emeritus and former chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “In that spirit, exposure to the humanities shows medical students there are ideas and pleasures beyond the technology of medicine and the grind of studying. Cultured physicians tend to be better communicators, better advocates for medicine and public health, and better facilitators between patients and caregivers.”
The Michael F. Marmor, MD Endowment for the Arts and Humanities will provide sustained support for the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) at HMS, led by founding director David Jones, AB ’93, AM ’97, MD ’01, PhD ’01, the A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine.
“Michael Marmor’s vision is that the arts and humanities are a fundamental and valuable part of the human experience and that individuals and communities—for example, a class of medical students—are enriched through engagement with them,” Jones says. “We will use this gift to pursue that vision.”
He says AHI will also continue to support those who pursue other roles for the arts and humanities in medicine, including providing an outlet for the emotional demands of caregiving and clinical training.
For Marmor, who recently returned to campus with his wife, Jane Breeden Marmor, MD ’66, to celebrate their 60th HMS Reunion, the heart of the matter remains simple: he wants future generations of HMS students to live in a community where the arts and humanities are visible, valued, and woven into everyday life—not just as training, but as part of what it means to be human and a doctor.
“The most informed, articulate, and effective physicians I’ve known have tended to be those with deep humanistic awareness and interests,” he says.
Lisa Wong, AB ’79, MD, associate co-director and co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) at HMS, says engagement in the arts and humanities during medical school is not just nice to have—it’s essential. In recent years, she says, national organizations such as the AAMC have affirmed the central role these disciplines play in health professions education. |
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