Graduate Certificate in Maine Arts and Humanities in Medicine

University of Maine

The Maine Arts and Humanities in Medicine Graduate Certificate is designed around a year-long course of study. Students will explore the realms of creative imagination as they intersect with the medical mindset. This juxtaposition offers exciting opportunities for learning, teaching, research and community engagement. For health professionals, art and design can build new lines of inquiry and communication as a bridge between the observed clinical experience and our interior emotional landscape. By engaging various perspectives and the fullness of our senses, we might reimagine, reshape, and ultimately renew the healing experience. For the humanist and artist, knowledge of medicine can help patients optimize their healing journey despite the complexity and inequity of our healthcare system.Medical schools have long developed interdisciplinary collaborations with the arts and humanities. More recently, residency programs have begun to enlist artists and humanists in order to broaden their creative approach to health and healthcare. Programs, journals, websites, and databases are dedicated to this form of interdisciplinary collaboration. Many focus on ''the text''– spoken, written, or enacted– that is retrieved and constructed during the medical encounter. Our program focuses on ''the life'' of medicine, that is, on the stories unearthed during the care of patients. These often reveal both the origins of illness and the interdependencies of those most intimately involved. At its core, the Maine Arts and Humanities in Medicine Certificate program is focused on the application of creative ways of thinking to deepen and enhance the healing experience for patients, providers, and their shared communities.Additionally, qualified physicians and graduate health professionals may apply for a one-year fellowship at the Northern Light Family Medicine Residency Program. This salaried adjunct faculty position allows a closer working relationship with fellowship faculty and pays for the Graduate Certificate program through teaching activities and the delivery of direct patient care. It is usually, but not necessarily, offered to physicians who have recently completed their residency training.

University of Maine