To complement the curriculum of the six area medical schools, The College created the Humanism in Medicine Initiative. Dr. Rhonda L. Soricelli chairs the Advisory Board, comprised of representatives from each school, that guides the Initative. The program is funded with the generous support of the Horace W. Goldsmith and Arcadia Foundations.

The initiative, entitled "Changing the Culture of Health Care and Healing through Arts and Humanities", explores the caring physician's relationship to patients and the profession through the arts and humanities. With a series of Visiting Scholarships by renowned professionals in the medical humanities, the program educates medical students and early career physicians in understanding the connections between the arts and the humanities and the healing art of medicine. It also identifies the role of the arts and humanities in the healing process, including how creative forms of expression can serve both as coping and communication mechanisms for patients and their families as well as for members of the health professions. Finally, the initiative aims to facilitate scholarly study and stimulate discussion of humanistic medicine by making use of The College's impressive library holdings and museum collection.

Dr. John Stone, a poet, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Emory University and Co-Editor of On Doctoring: Stories Poems, Essays, inaugurated the Visiting Scholar program this fall, delivering presentations at medical schools and The College. Please visit the College's Calendar of Events for future public events by Humanism in Medicine Visiting Scholars.