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PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE

Art & Medicine:

SHARPENING THE EYES AND MINDS, STRENGTHENING

THE TEAMS, AND NOURSHING THE SOULS
By Adam Ratner, MD, 2019 BCMS President

Over the past several years, physician leaders at top medical institutions have come to realize that studying the fine
arts can improve the effectiveness and satisfaction of physicians and other healthcare professionals.
UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA) was one of the first institutions in the country to offer such an experience to its
students more than a decade ago. Under the auspices of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, dr. Craig Klug-
man, a bioethicist who at the time was at UTHSA, created one of the first “Art Rounds” courses in the country.
The Art Rounds course has grown from dr. Klugman’s founding vision at UTHSA (see San Antonio Medicine May
2017) and a similar activity is now offered at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
(UIWSOM). The UIWSOM experience includes medical, graduate nursing, and pharmacy students who work together
as peers. It is an interactive, interprofessional program that takes students to the McNay Art Museum where they study
selected works from the impressive collection housed there. led collaboratively by faculties from the respective pro-
fessional schools and the professional educators at the McNay, participants view, observe, interpret and discuss selected
works of art.
Not only do participants improve visual observation and interpretation skills, they develop and improve interprofes-
sional communication skills and practice team-based problem solving. Students learn to gain comfort with ambiguity
and uncertainty as well as gain empathy and humanity as clinicians. What’s more, it’s fun!

Share your creative talent …
When I returned to academia a decade ago, I soon learned that many medical students, staff and faculty colleagues
had amazing artistic talents beyond their nominal medical roles. At UTHSA, some of these works are collected into an
annual publication called Connective Tissue. Connective Tissue is typically curated by senior medical students and con-
tains prose, poetry, photography and other pictorial arts submitted from students, staff and faculty at UTHSA and
UHS. It’s truly amazing.
At UIWSOM, dr. Mark Clark, associate professor of medical humanities, and Ania Rogalska, a second-year medical
student and leader of the Art & Medicine student program, encourage students to create works of art both within the
curriculum and through extracurricular projects.
I’m proud to say that in this month’s San Antonio Medicine you will see examples of creative works from contributors
from both UIWSOM and UTHSA. I know that many other bCMS and Alliance members have artistic talents. In future
editions of San Antonio Medicine, I would like to see works of art created by you.

Dr. Adam Ratner is President of the Bexar County Medical Society and serves as Professor and Assistant Dean of the University of
the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine and Chair of The Patient Institute.

8 San Antonio Medicine • June 2019