English alumna Tana Jean Welch joins university's Festival of the Creative Arts panel to discuss intersection of arts and medicine
By Molly DeKraai
Florida State University’s Festival of the Creative Arts continues this week with the second installation of a campus-wide Arts and Health Symposium.
Associate Professor of Medical Humanities Tana Jean Welch, who in 2013 earned her doctoral degree in literature from FSU’s Department of English, is on the Feb. 20 panel that is focused on stirring conversation regarding research and future interdisciplinary collaborations among various academic fields.
The intersection of the arts and medicine is multifaceted, and literature is an element that can be added to the conversation to yield positive results for healthcare students, providers, and patients, Welch says.
“Arts in Medicine—or Arts in Health—integrates performing, visual, and literary arts into healthcare settings and other community contexts in order to enhance health and well-being,” she adds.
At the symposium, Welch will discuss poetry and partnership in the clinic, focusing on how collaborative poetry writing can build stronger patient-provider relationships. She will explain the process of implementing the Japanese renga style of poetry, wherein poets take turns writing stanzas.
“The conversation that unfolds through the limiting lines of verse—each is limited to a syllabic count—will ideally lead to new knowledge and understanding for all,” Welch says. Through this application of bringing art and medicine together, she adds, patients and providers can use poetry to communicate with each other in a way that allows for furthered cooperation and unity.
These FSU professors, administrators, music therapists, and medical students are joining Welch in the discussion: Music Therapy Professors Lori Gooding, David Gussak and Dawn Iwamasa; Musicology Professor Michael Bakan; Photography and Moving Image Professor MJ Neuberger; Certified Music Therapist Flor del Cielo Hernandez; Chair of the College of Interior Architecture and Design Amy Huber; Dean and Professor of the College of Nursing Jing Wang; and first-year College of Medicine student Naoosha Mohammad.
The university hosted the first part of the Arts and Health Symposium in October 2023 during Discovery Days, a week-long series of events to celebrate FSU’s commitment to research, creativity, and innovation.
Welch is a published poet and scholar of literature, and the College of Medicine initially hired her “to facilitate creative writing workshops, run their literary arts magazine, and teach literature to medical students.”
“Several studies have shown that creative and reflective writing enhances physicians’ resilience, empathy, communication skills, as well as their ability to practice patient-centered care,” she explains. “Likewise, reading and discussing literature enhances critical thinking skills, empathy, and the ability to self-reflect.”
Through this lens is how Welch fulfills her role as the Arts in Medicine faculty advisor, teaching students of medicine and using her learned skills as an English alumna to provide a literary perspective to the healthcare field. Her perspective of teaching, learning, and practicing medicine allows for care that is more informed, dynamic, and understanding.
“Literary works provide excellent examples of the social determinants of health, while providing students with a wide range of ‘patient’ (i.e., human) experiences,” Welch says. “All these skills lead to better patient-centered care.
“Because physicians are often the storyteller of their patients’ situation—they may need to tell the story to other providers, the patient’s family, or even to their future self—enhancing one’s ‘storytelling’ skills is immensely valuable.”
Welch’s and the other panelists’ shared sentiment of the positive outcomes of bringing the arts to medical environments has led to this exciting event. The ideas formed and discussed through their joint efforts are a step toward future collaborations.
The Arts & Health Symposium II is Feb. 20 from 9:30 a.m.- 11:30 a.m. at the Claude Pepper Center, 636 W Call St. The Festival of the Creative Arts takes place from Feb. 2 through Feb. 28, and the performances spanning the weekend of Feb. 23-25 all include English faculty members. Those happenings will be previewed in upcoming articles.
Molly DeKraai is a senior double majoring in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and in Media Communication Studies.
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Note: FSUNews recently published an article about a Book Launch event at Midtown Reader for Welch's newest poetry collection, In Parachutes Descending!, which included a conversation with FSU English Professor Andrew Epstein about her poetry.