Deadline Approaching: John P. Murphy Symposium in Medical Humanities

Call for Proposals: Deadline Extended to January 18!

The John P. Murphy Symposium in Medical Humanities is an opportunity for Ohio medical students, faculty and others who are engaged in health humanities to gather, network, share their work and enhance their skills. Generously funded by a grant from the John P. Murphy Foundation, this symposium is free to all presenters and attendees, and will feature keynote speakers, student presentations and hands-on workshops in medical and health humanities and arts. Student participation is especially encouraged! Awards will be given for the best presentations, voted on by attendees. 

It is with great excitement that we announce our keynote speaker: Dr. Shirlene Obuobi!

Shirlene Obuobi is a Ghanaian-American physician, cartoonist, and author. Born in Ghana and raised across the United States, she earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and is now an Assistant Professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. A self-taught artist and writer, Obuobi is known for her comics about medical training and identity, which have garnered nearly 38,000 Instagram followers and have been featured by UChicago Medicine, Proto Magazine, and the Medical University of Vienna. Her debut novel, On Rotation, was featured by outlets including Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, and Good Morning America. Her most recent novel, Between Friends & Lovers (2024), explores love and friendship in the age of social media. Check out Dr. Obuobi's Instagram here! 

Deadline for proposals EXTENDED to January 18, 2026!

Symposium Information: 

Saturday, March 28, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Health Education Campus, Cleveland Clinic

9501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Ohio

Lunch and snacks provided

We invite proposals from medical students and all who are interested in curricular and extracurricular activities in the medical and health humanities, including but not limited to...

• Community engagement efforts
• Medical and health humanities/arts projects, including (but not limited to) journal publishing, visual and performing arts, poetry, graphic medicine, history, philosophy
• The intersection of wellness, disability, and artistic endeavors
• Medical and health humanities curriculum 
• Representation, belonging, and disparities as core themes in health humanities and medical school curricula
• Perspectives on cultivating physician identity and community from the arts and humanities

 We welcome a variety of presentation formats, including: 

• Flash Presentations
• Five-minute presentations with 5 or fewer slides showcasing arts and humanities curriculum, extracurricular projects, and scholarly work
• Paper and Project Presentations
• 10 to 15-minute presentations on scholarly work, curriculum, extracurricular activities, etc. Need not be a formal paper. 
• Visual Arts Gallery
• Display your visual art in a gallery setting, along with a description. Art can take any form, including digital. 
• Performance
• Showcase your performance (5 minutes or less) in spoken word poetry, music, dance, theatre, or performance art during the dessert reception. 
• Other
• Have an idea that isn’t represented here? Let us know!

Please click here to submit your proposal.