Our guest today is Rita Charon is a general internist and literary scholar and one of the founders of the field of narrative medicine. She completed the MD at Harvard Medical School and the PhD in English at Columbia University. She is the Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine, Professor of Medicine, and founding chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. Her research in narrative medicine has been supported by the NIH, the NEH, and many private foundations. She authored, co-authored, or co-edited four books on narrative medicine. She lectures and teaches internationally and publishes extensively in leading medical and literary journals.

In this interview, Dr. Rita Charon discusses how early experiences with her father's medical practice inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. She also reflects on her love of literature that led to her deep dive into that field, connecting profoundly with narrative theory. This instantly enriched her medical practice by enhancing her listening skills and her ability to unearth deeper meanings in patient interactions. She highlights the importance of narrative medicine in helping health professionals cope with the emotional challenges of their work, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, and reflects on the broader implications of narrative competency, the importance of listener trust, and the systemic challenges in healthcare that impact equitable access to care. The close reading of non-medical texts she maintains can help health professionals recognize and address structural inequities within the healthcare system. Rita emphasizes the importance of activism among clinicians and the need for providing models of activism for students of medicine while protecting clinicians from systemic pressures that erode the patient-clinician relationship. This fascinating, lively, and connecting conversation with Dr. Charon makes a compelling and inspiring call for all of us in medicine to consider a deeper literary engagement to enhance empathy and understanding in medical practice.

Guest: Rita Charon, MD, PhD

Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine, Professor of Medicine, and founding chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

Faculty Page, Columbia University: https://sps.columbia.edu/faculty/rita-charon-md-phd

Resources/References:

Dr. Charon’s Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yI0rdQEAj8

About Luke Fildes painting The Doctor, 1891: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_(painting)

David Rothman Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315130286/strangers-bedside-david-rothman

About Henry James: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James

About Hans-Georg Gadamer, philosopher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_of_horizons

Emily Dickinson:

“A word is dead when it is said…” https://www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson/a-word-is-dead/

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant…” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56824/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-1263