Himmelfarb’s 36th annual art show is in full swing, bringing an exciting range of photography, acrylics, water colors, knitting, and mixed media to Himmelfarb’s first floor. If you haven’t already, come take a study break and peruse the work of your fellow students, staff, and faculty.
In the meantime, enjoy this sampling of work and the artists in their own words.
And if you’d like to drop a few lines about your art or creative process, email them to randy.plym@gwu.edu. Every piece has a story, and we love to hear them.
Frederick Jacobsen's "Giverny Lilies" [Photograph]
As a photographer and clinical researcher into the effects of light on the brain and behavior I am very attuned to the continually shifting perspectives of light and color in my environment. Visiting Monet's Giverny pond and gardens provided me the opportunity to view and feel how this exquisite environment facilitated his remarkable Nymphéas paintings while suffering progressive visual loss (due to bilateral cataracts). "Giverny Lilies" is an homage to Monet’s work and vision through a 21st century lens.
Frederick M. Jacobsen, Faculty, SMHS
Brittany Smith's "VA Mountains" [Watercolor on Paper]
I believe 'VA Mountains' is one of my earliest watercolor paintings. It is inspired by a photo I took many years ago during my time at UVA when some friends and I drove along Blue Ridge Parkway. That day was one of my favorite days when I was an undergraduate student and the painting serves as a reminder of that mini-road trip.
In terms of process, I have a simple painting style since I'm trying to figure out watercolor as a medium. This was painting in a beginner's class and my instructor actually helped with the texture of the stone railing along the road. I haven't painted anything new in a few years, but I want to return to watercolor soon and fill a sketchbook with watercolor experiments to build my confidence as a painter.
Brittany Smith, Staff, Himmelfarb
Rebecca Kyser's "Quackery" [Ink and Colored Pencil on Paper]
I'm a big believer in the power of comics to make scientific and historical topics more accessible to the public. So when I heard about the art show, it seemed the best opportunity to put that belief into practice.
Rebecca Kyser, Staff, Himmelfarb
Mehrshad Fahim Devin's "Post-Op" [Photograph]
Post-op was inspired by the conversation's I've had with patients as a medical student. I've had the opportunity to speak with some patients both before and after a surgical operation. I found that pre-op patients held a lot of uncertainty and fear for the future; but after the surgery, amidst the pain and recovery, their eyes almost always glimmered with relief. The piece is meant to represent this relief.
Mehrshad Fahim Devin, Student, SMHS
Basil Considine's "The Faerie Queene of New Prague: the Court" [Digital Photo Painting and Composite]
You probably haven't heard of New Prague, Minnesota (population: 8,000), but hundreds of schoolchildren in Madagascar can find it on a map. Why? The city – and its mischievous Faerie Queen, who wants everything done properly and turns pirates into frogs – were front and center in a series of storytelling performances that I delivered as a Fulbrighter. Each time I visited their school, the children begged to hear more stories about cold, snowy Minnesota (Brr!) and the beautiful Faerie Queen. And then, one day, a teacher asked me if there was a picture of her...
How can you compete with a child's imagination? That's a challenge for any artist, but I had a good set of raw materials: a photo shoot with the model for the Faerie Queen (Lisa Bark, an actor from New Prague, MN), a flair for theatrical makeup, and a lifetime of adoring complex Renaissance tableaus and Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Throw in a set of original fairy tales that I'd crafted for the children, a set of digital painting brushes in Photoshop, and I started to sketch a set of storybook scenes and fill them with extra details – to reward staring at the picture again and again.
Some people say that digital painting is faster. You don't have to wait for paint to dry, but after more than 400 layers and more than 10,000 brush strokes...not for me!
When was the last time you checked your phone? (That was easy.)
Now, when was the last time you read a poem?
Let’s explore some places online to find poems related to health, illness and recovery, and where to find them. We’ll also take a look at some outlets you might consider sending your poems out to, if you are a poet. National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 to celebrate the integral role of poets and poems in our lives.
With healthcare's proximity to pain, uncertainty, and death – all catalysts for art – it's no surprise that many patients and doctors alike have converted their experiences into poetry. If you're craving poetry about the healthcare experience, the modern options are abundant. The Poetry Foundation's Poems of Sickness, Illness, and Recovery (a contemporary and diverse list) illustrates this wonderfully.
Consider Elaine Equi's "Earth, You Have Returned to Me," where the author compares her pharmaceutical experience to being on different planets with different gravities, and presumably with different flows of time – an analogy that cannot be captured with dosage information or measurement of vitals.
Or Jane Kenyon’s “After an Illness, Walking the Dog,” which records the experience of recovery: both the awareness of life (“every pebble gleams, every leaf”) and our vast limitations.
Poetry websites aren’t the only place to find poems, however. Did you know that poetry can be searched in PubMed as a MeSH heading? Entering the search "Poetry as Topic"[Mesh] will yield results that include poems found in journals, including JAMA, which publish poetry on a regular or occasional basis. This MeSH search will also yield poetry-adjacent studies, including intriguing investigations which are situated at the intersection of poetry and medicine.
If you are engaged in the practice of writing poems, you’re in good company. Renowned poets like William Carlos Williams – a physician and writer – have demonstrated simultaneous excellence in medicine and art. But you certainly don’t need to be William Carlos Williams to write poems. Here are some potential outlets for your work, in addition to the journals mentioned above, and additional sources of healthcare-inspired creative output:
Bellevue Literary Revue (BLR), established in 2000, is a “journal of humanity and human experience,” and is the first literary journal to have been established in a medical setting. It is published twice a year.
Ars Medica is one of Canada’s first health humanities journals.
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions,” by NPR science-journalist Richard Harris.
About the Book:
Applying his decades of journalistic experience to the “reproducibility crisis” - a term coined to describe the difficulty in replicating large amounts of published science - Richard Harris interviews many key figures attempting to improve the standards of science. Chapter by chapter, he analyzes factors of the crisis such as human error (reporting only what works, not doing double blind experiments, refusal to comply with fact checkers), sample sizes determined by budget, experiments that use only one cell line, test animal problems, a culture that incentives publication speed over accuracy, debunked facts circulating like ghost ships, and more.
Part compendium of errors, part call to action, “Rigor Mortis” is an eye-opening account of the last couple decades of scientific rigor.
Reasons to Read:
If you’re looking for a balanced, outsider’s take on the subject, Harris does an excellent job presenting arguments and counter-arguments. For example, he discusses both Brian Nosek’s Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, which attempted to replicate 50 published attention-gathering papers, and the criticism of the project from Robert Weinberg, one of the lead scientists of the chosen studies (Harris, 2017, pg. 159).
Despite the aggressive (and somewhat hyperbolic) title, Harris writes with a sense of concern that never feels disparaging. If you’re looking for a broader look at the issue, the extensive interview range presents a fuller picture than many of the articles out there.
Reasons to Avoid:
If you’re already familiar with the issue, “Rigor Mortis” could prove depressing.
Although science self-corrects, and although Harris presents improvements across the board (and emphasizes how many of them would be cost effective), the road ahead seems long, and the weight of culture change seems daunting.
Last month, European researchers launched a program to identify errors within scientific literature. With an initial fund of 250,000 Swiss francs - roughly 285,000 USD - team leaders Malte Elson and Ruben C. Arslan are seeking experts to investigate and discover errors in scientific literature, beginning with psychological papers.
Here’s them in their own words:
ERROR is a comprehensive program to systematically detect and report errors in scientific publications, modeled after bug bounty programs in the technology industry. Investigators are paid for discovering errors in the scientific literature: The more severe the error, the larger the payout. In ERROR, we leverage, survey, document, and increase accessibility to error detection tools. Our goal is to foster a culture that is open to the possibility of error in science to embrace a new discourse norm of constructive criticism.
(Elson, 2024)
Their program follows a growing awareness of what researchers in the early 2010s called “the replication crisis:” the inability to reproduce large amounts of scientific findings. For example, the former head of cancer research at the biotechnology company Amgen, C. Glenn Begley, investigated 53 of his company’s most promising publications (pieces that would lead to groundbreaking discoveries). Of those 53, his team could only reproduce 6 (Hawkes, 2012). While 53 is not a large sample size, Nature surveyed 1,576 researchers and more than 70% reported trying and failing to reproduce published experiments (Baker, 2016).
ERROR founders Malte Elson and Ruben C. Arslan point to a poor incentive structure: “error detection as a scientific activity is relatively unappealing as there is little to gain and much to lose for both the researchers whose work is being scrutinized (making cooperation unlikely)” (Elson, 2024).
Nature concurs. Journals, they report, are less likely to publish verification of older work or work simply reporting negative findings (Baker, 2016). Reproduction gets deferred, because reproduction requires more time and money (Ibid).
Not to mention that even in science, biases can crop up - the siren call of new discoveries can lead people to publishing versus confirming results. In a noteworthy example, Begley - the aforementioned Amgen researcher - approached a scientist and explained that he tried - and failed - 50 times to reproduce the results of his experiments. The scientist answered that “they had done it six times and got this result once but put it in the paper because it made the best story” (Hawkes, 2012, emphasis added).
Bearing these issues in mind, the ERROR program hopes to incentivize error-detection and change the publication culture: opening the perception of negative results as useful data (Elson, 2024). To foster a positive environment, authors must agree to be reviewed, and hopefully, these authors can even benefit from the verification (Lee, 2024).
Since at least 2005, researchers have called for attempts to address the replication crisis (Pashler, 2012; Loaandis, 2005). While time will decide whether the ERROR program makes a difference, it provides an interesting answer to that call.
Hawkes, N. (2012). Most laboratory cancer studies cannot be replicated, study shows. BMJ 344. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e2555 (Published 04 April 2012)
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion.
About the Book: “The Year of Magical Thinking” is a memoir of the grief experienced by Joan Didion, novelist and journalist, after the sudden death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. Written the year after his death, Didion turns her journalistic eye to her own raw thought processes, resulting in a masterful study of grief and a testament to a successful marriage.
Reasons to Read: Since Didion wrote “The Year of Magical Thinking so close to her husband’s death, the work maintains an immediacy; reading it almost captures the evolution of her thoughts as they developed. Raw but measured, it provides a sharp picture of grief that could very well help those who are grieving.
Reasons to Avoid: If you’re triggered by flaunting of luxury, be prepared for copious references to exotic travel, hotel living, ruby crystal glasses, and phrases like [speaking of the late 60s], “a mood where no one thought twice about flying 700 miles for dinner" (Didion, 2005, p. 49).
Further Reading:
Play It as It Lays - Didion’s classic 1970 novel, which depicts 1960s Hollywood and an emerging nihilism (available at Himmelfarb through Ebook Central Complete).
Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Didion’s 1968 collection of non-fiction, often regarded as the best example of her new-journalism (available through consortium loan).
References:
Didion, J. (2005). The Year of Magical Thinking. Vintage International.
Regardless of how much winter we have left, health is important any time of year.
And it’s true: the components of a healthy life remain the same year-round - sleep, hydration, socialization, nutrition, exercise - only the conditions and obstacles change.
As winter wanes into spring, the days slowly warm and brighten – but it can still be more difficult to get outside to exercise or socialize, or the cold might encourage unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Perhaps it helps to think of the cold as a challenge rather than an undefeatable difficulty.
We always need to hydrate - but the need to hydrate is more apparent in the summer heat. Winter can be a time for conscious health decisions.
Similarly, as the seasons warm up, people are more likely to stand around outside or chat with passing acquaintances. Spontaneous social interaction - and social interaction in general - are both markers of positive health outcomes. In winter, it’s useful to ramp up social planning, visit places you’re likely to bump into acquaintances (position yourself for spontaneity at coffee shops or even the Himmelfarb Library :P), or attend winter activities (see items that recur into March and April).
And those who do seek winter exercise can enjoy the low humidity and lack of bugs. It’s great to plan even a walk in these shorter days, not just because of seasonal effects on mood, but because schedules might preclude seeing any sunshine at all.
With the right effort, we can make the most of winter as we welcome spring.
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity” by Sir Michael Marmot.
About the Book: Based on the Whitehall Studies (ten year mortality studies into the British Civil Service), “The Status Syndrome” is the culmination of Sir Michael Marmot’s decades long research. In it, he concludes that autonomy and the ability to participate in society are key factors of health. Relentlessly, he investigates the usual suspects of poor health - smoking, processed foods, etc - and demonstrates how they don’t fully account for health disparities. A blend of medical research and public health recommendation, “The Status Syndrome” demonstrates a keen intersection of analysis and application.
Reasons to Read: Beyond being highly accessible, Michael Marmot brings a unique perspective as the original leader of the Whitehall studies. And since the studies themselves focus solely on the middle class, the book avoids the obvious (ex: of course dire poverty leads to poor health outcomes).
It’s a book that goes beyond left and right wing politics, and, in fact, might challenge either value-set. It can be read selfishly - i.e. what are the ingredients for a healthy/quality life, and how do I position myself? Or, it can be read selflessly - i.e. how can we organize society so others can have a healthy/quality life?
Reasons to Avoid: The book takes a commonsense idea - higher status correlates tightly with better health outcomes - and takes the magnifying glass to its nuances. But if you prefer easily graspable ideas without looking into the examples, then “higher status correlates tightly with better health outcomes” might be enough for you.
If you’re a policy-junky, you can skim the Acheson report online (fully titled the “Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health Report”), from which Marmot derives his government recommendations.
(Not) Fun Facts:
In an eye-opening example, Marmot features our very own D.C. as an example of status gradient. “The status syndrome can be illustrated by a short ride on the Washington, D.C., subway. Travel from the southeast of downtown Washington to Montgomery County, Maryland. For each mile traveled, life expectancy rises about a year and a half. There is a twenty-year gap between poor blacks at one end of the journey and rich whites at the other” (Marmot, p. 2).
References
Marmot, Michael. (2005). The Status Syndrome. Times Books.
Overcoming the inertia to write a research project can be more difficult than actually writing it.
The blank document only grows more intimidating if you don’t remember previous research, or if you know that after writing, you’ll still need to find and compile all of your sources from note apps, half-references in drafts, and scraps of memory.
Fortunately, tools like RefWorks help smooth the path during both research and writing.
With RefWorks, you can aggregate and save references from our major databases like PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus; collaborate with the Google Docs add-on; and create bibliographies (in APA 7th, AMA, etc), importing them with the Microsoft word plug-in.
Himmelfarb staff have created a great one-stop RefWorks guide.
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing an inspirational book for the New Year: “Mountains Beyond Mountains: the Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer,” by Tracy Kidder.
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing an inspirational book for the New Year: “Mountains Beyond Mountains: the Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer,” by Tracy Kidder.
About the Book: Part biography, part origin story of Partners in Health, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who dedicated his life to battling disease and serving the poor with out-of-the-box-thinking, a justice-fueled irreverence for the status quo, and a willingness to redefine the impossible. Journalist Tracy Kidder follows Farmer’s service in Haiti and Peru with wonder and intimidation, entertaining periodic skepticism about Farmer’s practicality (walking 7 hours to visit a single patient, for example) while ultimately marveling at the work accomplished.
Reasons to Read: As an inspiration for anyone studying medicine or public health, Farmer shows that apathy can be overcome, policy change can happen, millions can be saved – and anything’s possible.
Reasons to Avoid: Farmer’s example seems (at times) impossibly high, even unreplicatable, and his vision of charity impossibly uncompromising. It’s important to remember that charity does not require genius and that any progress helps.
Fun Facts:
The Arcade Fire song, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” is named after the novel (CBC Music).
Further Reading:
Bending the Arc - a 2017 documentary about Partners in Health
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “Microcosm” by Carl Zimmer.
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “Microcosm” by Carl Zimmer.
About the Book: “Microcosm” chronicles the scientific advances – and the birth of microbiology – through the lens of E. coli (to borrow Zimmer’s phrase) [5]. Because of their relative simplicity (they’re one of the only genomes that scientists have completely mapped), E. coli has been at the vanguard of insights into DNA, metabolism, evolution, and the manipulation of life. Microcosm is a stunning love letter to finding the biggest insights in the smallest places.
Reasons to Read: If your only knowledge of E. coli comes from a headline about Chipotle, or
if you enjoy seeing the world completely differently: a world where the majority of genes in your body aren’t your own [53], where your body is a site of chemical warfare, and where the lines between species, viruses, and hosts blur.
Reasons to Avoid: If you’re already well versed in the history of microbiology and genetic engineering, Microcosm might be redundant for you.
Fun Facts:
E. coli, which have been bio-engineered to glow, can be trained to “draw” - including pixel art of Mario (Simon-Lewis, 2017).
Human genes can be inserted into - and functional within - E. coli (Zimmer, 2008, 187).
Simon-Lewis, A. (05/24/2017). Scientists teach E.coli bacteria to 'draw'. Bacteria draws Mario. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/disco-bacteria-mit
