Writing and Humanities Program

Medicine is more than science—it’s a human experience shaped by storytelling, reflection, and creativity. The Writing and Humanities Program at the Carver College of Medicine embraces this idea by exploring the artistic and humanistic dimensions of medical education and practice. Through a critical, transdisciplinary approach, we highlight how the humanities and arts deepen our understanding of medicine, patient care, and professional identity.

Our program offers:

Elective courses and arts activities that allow medical students to engage with writing, literature, philosophy, history, visual arts, music, and performing arts. These experiences illuminate the role of creativity in medical education and practice.
The Humanities Distinction Track, which encourages, supports, and recognizes students who pursue scholarship in creative writing, social sciences, public policy, and other humanities-related fields.
One-on-one writing consultations to help students refine their work, whether it’s for scholarship applications, residency personal statements, CVs, patient notes, presentations, correspondence, recommendations, or even creative writing projects. We can also consult on research papers and abstracts, though we require you to consult SERCC first.

By bridging medicine and the humanities, we empower future physicians to find their voice, craft compelling narratives, and cultivate a deeper connection to the art of healing. Whether you’re preparing for residency, writing for publication, or exploring your own creative expression, we’re here to help.

Camille Socarras, MA, Director
1-319-335-1682

David T. Etler, Creative Media Specialist
1-319-335-8058

The Short Coat Podcast: Exploring What Med Students are Becoming

The Writing and Humanities Program is proud to support The Short Coat Podcast, a show featuring the students of the Carver College of Medicine. For more, visit The Short Coat Podcast site.

Remember–you can send questions or feedback to theshortcoats@gmail.com! We love it!

Episodes from the Margins of Medicine

Feedback, Filler Words, and Fights Over Naturopathic Medicine

Thursday, July 30, 2026

M2s Akshaj Joshi, Anna Royer, Charis Edwards, and Cory Karasek talk about giving and receiving feedback, what it's like reading a stack of evaluative comments about yourself, why "keep reading" is somehow a real evaluation, and whether attendings have started letting AI write their write-ups. Also, do quiet students get read more harshly than talkative ones, does anybody actually change their filler-word habit once someone points it out, and is your personality basically locked in since the day you were born (this one gets a full psychoanalysis of Joshi's baby years). Also, we visit reddit to help people. For instance, an AITA dilemma asks whether refusing hospital visitors after birth makes you the asshole, whether it's awful to end a ten-year relationship over a partner's decision to go to naturopathic school, and somebody's uncle wants a free diagnosis at the next family gathering, and gets read for it, ethically, legally, and personally.

Should Medical Students have Babies (spoiler: yeah, baby!)

Thursday, July 23, 2026

M2 Jack Klitgaard and M4 Fallon Jung are both expecting newborns in the coming months. M2 Regan Demaris has a couple toddlers already, and CCOM Registrar and Curriculum Director Carrie Bernat had her children while putting her husband through medical school two decades ago. In short, it's the perfect group to talk about the challenges and triumphs of cuddling kids while cramming the Krebs cycle. Fallon's challenge will be how to apply for residency positions with a new little one. Jack faces starting his clinical rotations while stepping into the role of father. Fortunately, both of their spouses are going to stay at home to be the primary caregiver. Regan's toddlers came into the world before medical school and as her husband was in the Navy, which presented its own moments of terror--like how to cope with a daycare disaster while he was incommunicado on a boat somewhere. And Carrie--well, 20 years ago she was working at another medical school and having babies while her husband navigated an MD/PhD program. They were handling it well until her second child was born with a chromosomal microdeletion, upending carefully laid plans.

Free Med School and a Mission: Is Military Medicine For You?

Thursday, July 16, 2026

For pre-meds staring down six figures of debt, the military offers something rare: a fully funded path through medical school built around a mission bigger than the paycheck. Dave sits down with M3 Nick Lebezeder, M3 Lauren VandeKamp, and M2 Lydia Bemnister to walk through the menu of options — among others, the Health Professions Scholarship Program, National Guard and Reserve stipends, USUHS (the military's own medical school in Bethesda, which pays you a second lieutenant's salary while you train), and the Navy's Health Services Collegiate Program. Nick lays out how a three-year HPSP scholarship maps to three years of service after residency, and Lauren walks through the math on longer residencies so nobody signs blind. The commitment is real. So is what it buys: leadership experience from day one, a guaranteed specialty pipeline for the ones who plan ahead, and, for the right person, a sense of purpose civilian medicine doesn't always hand you.