Seek inspiration from published authors featured in our reading lists, book reviews, and Bookshop.org site, and other collections that focus on medical humanities.
Bookshop.org Gold Foundation Shop
Visit our Bookshop.org site where you can order books drawn from our Reading Lists for Compassionate Clinicians and authors who have illuminated the experience of illness and care.
Gold Foundation Reading List for Compassionate Clinicians
The Gold Foundation compiles an annual list of recently published books, both nonfiction and fiction, that may help inspire humanism in your work. Each mention includes a brief synopsis. View the lists here.
Book Reviews – Medical Culture
We also offer a selection of reviews of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that offer a look at the culture of medicine. Read them here.
Literature Arts Medicine Database
This collection from NYU School of Medicine
features literature, fine art, visual art and performing art annotations created for those with an interest in medical humanities.
Cultural Diversity and Anti-Racism Collection from Cooper Medical School
This collection of library resources, videos, articles, books, art, podcasts, faculty development resources and more on cultural diversity, anti-racism and inclusion was developed by student members at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University’s Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter. They created this librarian-supported, long-term effort to bring volumes with new perspectives to the medical library, with the intention to inspire and continue the difficult but vital conversations around anti-racism in America.
Gold Writing Workshop
Do you write? The Gold Foundation offers a free 4-session writing workshop focused on supporting healthcare professionals and students, led by writer Judith Hannan. Nurses, doctors, and all healthcare team members of any discipline are welcome. Find out about the next session and learn more here.
In this recorded webinar, Ms. Hannan leads an interactive workshop that includes writing prompts, as well as readings from her book Motherhood Exaggerated (CavanKerry Press, 2012), her memoir of discovery and transformation during her daughter’s cancer treatment and her transition into survival. Her most recent book is The Write Prescription: Telling Your Story to Live With and Beyond Illness.
Humanism in Healthcare Essays
The Gold Foundation hosts the annual Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest which invites medical and nursing students an opportunity to engage in a reflective writing exercise that illustrates an experience where they or a team member worked to ensure that humanism was at the core of care.
Winning essays are published in Academic Medicine and The Journal of Professional Nursing. Read the winning essays here.
Bellevue Literary Review
BLR is an award-winning independent literary journal that probes the nuances of our lives both in illness and health. BLR publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that brings together the perspectives of patients, caregivers, family members, students, healthcare professionals, and the general public. BLR is committed to seeking a diversity of voices from all communities and all walks of life.
Colorado University Senior Storybook Project
Members of the University of Colorado Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter, in collaboration with the medical student Geriatric Interest Group, published Gratitude, a collection of stories from geriatric patients shared through volunteer-led interviews. Printed copies of the book were made available to the School of Medicine, University of Colorado Hospital and Anschutz Medical Campus communities.
Anthropismos — Journal of Humanism
Anthropismos is a peer-reviewed humanistic journal that celebrates the Gold Humanism Honor Society’s national initiatives. The class of 2021 piloted this journal to honor the 2020-21 National Initiative- Humanism and Healing: Structural Racism and Its Impact on Medicine. This session from the 2021 Gold Humanism Conference instructed attendees about how to create a peer-reviewed humanistic academic journal.
Brain Candy
Brain Candy is Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Journal of Arts and Culture, created by their Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter. Brain Candy incorporates paintings, written pieces, and poetry from all the medical classes at Wayne State University School of Medicine to shed light on the creative process in medicine, the city of Detroit, and the experiences of health care providers. With generous funding support from alumnus Dr. Tom Janisse, Class of 1975, the journal continues to be in print since 2009.
Ars Literarium
Ars Literarium is a literary publication that features submissions from across eight health professions schools within the Rutgers Health community and aims to share work rooted in self-reflection about profound personal experiences. Scroll down the page to view past issues.
Reflective MedEd
Reflective MedEd is a blog dedicated to reflective practice in medical education and care of the person. They publish contributions from educators, patients, and others that foster awareness of the human dimension of doctoring and develop advocates for the just and equitable treatment of all patients. It is supported by Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Humanism in Medicine: New Beginnings
Humanism in Medicine: New Beginnings a virtual magazine created by the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Gold Humanism Honor Society Humanism chapter.
Pediatric eBook Library
Have you ever wanted to create a humanistic library at your institution? The Pediatric eBook Library’s mission is to create eBook Libraries in hospitals and medical centers to promote the happiness and healing of pediatric patients. This resource offers instructions for streamlining the implementation process, choosing which device to purchase, selecting culturally and age-appropriate books, establishing security measures, fundraising, and more.
Find more creative ideas and inspiration for integrating the arts into healthcare practice in our Arts, Design and Humanities collection.