Lily Dorrington​

Having finished my fourth year at Lancaster Medical School and passing my final exams, I wanted to seize the opportunity to intercalate and pursue my interests in the humanities and literature in a way complimentary to my medical degree. Enter the University of Bristol and the intercalated BA in Medical Humanities! From childhood, I have always cultivated a love of reading and writing, a passion that would set the stage for my continued academic pursuits in English Literature right the way through to A-Level. My choice to take on four A-Level subjects, the required Biology and Chemistry alongside English Lit and French allowed me to indulge in a joint pursuit of the sciences and my less traditional interests. 

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Going on to pursue my medical education at Lancaster allowed me to enjoy a more holistic approach that champions so-called non-medical-sciences curricular themes, like Population Health, Health, Culture & Society, and Professional Practice, Values & Ethics. This varied education allowed me to gain a broader understanding of concepts related to healthcare, as existing within medical sociology, psychology, medical law and ethics, philosophy, public health and epidemiology. It is this wider reading of allied subjects that furthered my interest in the field of medical humanities, lying at the intersection of the often-divorced sciences and arts. Whilst my studies at Lancaster have left me feeling both committed to and prepared for my future career in medicine, this degree has helped me to nurture various passions and interests that have broadened my horizons as both a person and a clinician in profound and unexpected ways. 

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I enjoyed all aspects of the course, but my personal favourite modules were Literature and Medicine and the Philosophy and History of Medicine, which offered excellent opportunities to expand and reframe pre-existing knowledge in new and refreshing ways. Despite my initial instinctive draw to the course being more literature-oriented, the chance to study and discuss philosophical issues surrounding medicine, past and present, with other philosophers that lack my background in the field has been an enriching and enlightening experience. 

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Similarly to this exhibition, which aims to highlight the historical trajectory of women and medicine centring patients and practitioners through various art forms, my dissertation was firmly grounded in the central concepts of medical humanities. Focusing on Shakespeare and psychiatry – and the longstanding relationship between the two – the dissertation explored the modern trend of alienation of medicine from previously allied artistic pursuits and the restorative potential for their integration across medical education and practice. 

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In my medical career, I am particularly interested in palliative care and oncology, alongside general practice, and dermatology, and hope to work in hospice care later on. Outside of medicine, my interests include musical theatre, singing, reading, filmography, palaeontology, and modern foreign languages. 

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Georgia Nicolls

I am from Northern Ireland, and my primary medical school is Queen’s University Belfast, where I will be returning next year to recommence Year 4 of my studies. I have always valued striking a balance between science and the humanities in my education, having studied English Literature and German at A-Level alongside my science subjects. My interest in English is something that I have tried to maintain during my medical education, and I have found this degree to be the perfect opportunity to pursue this interest in a formal academic setting. A grounding in the medical humanities is invaluable to any aspiring medic. The pre-eminence of the biomedical model in clinical practice has led to the creation of a false dichotomy in medical education that prioritises empirical science at the expense of soft skills and interpersonal understanding. The medical humanities can go some way towards addressing this disparity.

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My medical interests include women’s health and ethical issues, and I was able to pursue both of these before coming to Bristol through my choice of student selected components at Queen’s. This year has given my the opportunity to further explore these passions through the close study of philosophy and English.

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Outside of medicine I take a keen interest in music, having participated in both the Chamber Choir and Opera Society whilst studying at the University of Bristol this year. My other interests include reading for pleasure, baking, and modern foreign languages (German), and this year I have even used the opportunity to take up a couple of sports including lacrosse and fencing.

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This exhibition is the accumulation of a year spent immersed in the medical humanities. Since there are only two of us on the iBAMH course this year, and we are both female, we thought this exhibition would be the ideal opportunity to explore the historical and contemporary roles of women in medicine. We have chosen to title the exhibit ‘Threading the Needle’ as a nod to the traditional association of women with sewing and needle craft. Needles and thread also have a close association with surgery, the field of medicine that somewhat ironically has the lowest levels of female representation. It was very important to us that the exhibition focus not only on women’s contributions as clinical practitioners, but how the patriarchal and paternalistic origins of the medical establishment continue to affect the medical experiences of female patients today. This is a theme I also chose to consider in my dissertation, which looked at how the patient experiences of pregnant and birthing women changed over the course of the eighteenth century. It focused on how looking at fairytale and folklore, as traditional female mediums, can provide insight into the female medical experience in an era where we have few surviving firsthand accounts from women themselves. This exhibition takes a similar approach, aiming to highlight women’s medical struggles and experiences through the medium of art.