Arts and humanities in medicine with Professor Ian Fussell

10/24/23 • 32 min

We tend to see medicine as a strictly scientific sector, but the arts and humanities are essential when it comes to educating our doctors and caring for patients and the planet. Doctor and Professor of Medical Education Ian Fussell joins me to talk about:

What is medical humanities
How and why we can use arts and humanities in medical education
The links between planetary health, medical health, and social justice
Why medical and scientific researchers need artists and humanities specialists
How the humanities helped the medical field during the Covid-19 pandemic
Medicine as an enabler of the arts and humanities

Find Bryony @BF_Armstrong
Find the pod @wtppod_
Find Ian at the University of Exeter Medical School
Artwork: Riduwan Molla https://www.canva.com/p/riduwanmolla/
Music: Madaan Mansij https://www.pond5.com/artist/mansij_tubescreamer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

What is medical humanities
How and why we can use arts and humanities in medical education
The links between planetary health, medical health, and social justice
Why medical and scientific researchers need artists and humanities specialists
How the humanities helped the medical field during the Covid-19 pandemic
Medicine as an enabler of the arts and humanities

Previous Episode

Why science alone can’t solve the climate crisis with Conor Brennan

Although there has been scientific consensus on the climate crisis for decades, humans have been slow to respond to its urgency. Environmental humanities researcher Conor Brennan joins me to talk about:

What is environmental humanities?
How can evironmental humanities help to solve the climate crisis?
The role of popular culture in communicating the climate crisis
The problems that arise when we take arts and humanities out of the equations
How art convinces people to change their behaviour about the climate crisis
How has the climate crisis affected literature and aesthetic experiments?
Why climate activism should include humanities teaching in schools/universities

Read "The Humanities in the UK Today" report by the Higher Education Policy Institute
Other sources discussed:

Edward Said, "Jane Austen and Empire", Culture and Imperialism (1993)
Richard Powers, The Overstory (2018)
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (2020)
Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead (2009)

Find Bryony @BF_Armstrong
Find the pod @wtppod_
Find Conor
Artwork: Riduwan Molla https://www.canva.com/p/riduwanmolla/
Music: Madaan Mansij https://www.pond5.com/artist/mansij_tubescreamer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

What's the Point? - Arts and humanities in medicine with Professor Ian Fussell

Transcript

Bryony Armstrong00:00:04.950

Hello, and welcome to What's the Point, the podcast where we discuss the need for arts and humanities today. I'm your host, Bryony Armstrong. We’re living in a time where the arts and humanities are under threat. And I know this firsthand, having studied both English and Math at university, and now doing a PhD in English. Each week, I'll be joined by a guest to talk about what arts and humanities do for the world. If you've ever wondered