ABOUT

The Medical Humanities Initiative is a student-founded, multi-institutional group that seeks to connect artists, scientists, clinicians, and humanists in the Providence area, forging avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration and connecting students to ongoing work in the medical arts and humanities. The group was founded with the goal of using the humanities to teach clinical skills and wellness practices along with ways to incorporate the arts into direct patient care. The MHI has student chapters across the graduate and undergraduate levels at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. These chapters work on curriculum design for the medical school, host artist talks and events, collaborate with the Wellness Office on workshops, and organize and connect ongoing medical humanities projects and student groups. The MHI hopes to knock down walls for artists and scientists alike, nurturing vital interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Medical Humanities Initiative is supported by the Brown Arts Institute, the Brown Medical Alumni Association, and the Christiane Corbat Art and Healing Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation.

Meet The Founders.

Diana Wang

Diana Wang is a second-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School and a violinist passionate about the intersection of music and medicine. A Harvard College graduate with honors in Neurobiology, she has explored music-based interventions for dementia and remains active in medical orchestras and professional ensembles, blending her expertise in musicianship, research, and community engagement.

Kelsey Bogdan, MFA

Kelsey Bogdan is a second-year student at the Warren Alpert Medical School. Bogdan graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology and a secondary in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She then went on to pursue her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia College Chicago in 2022, where her thesis work primarily focused on sculptural and light-based installation. Bogdan has years of experience teaching in both the sciences and visual arts, and brings her experience in interdisciplinary curriculum design to the team. As an artist, Bogdan has exhibited across the country, and has curatorial and research experience in both contemporary and historical art. She looks forward to bringing her expertise in art making, interdisciplinary research, and teaching to the Initiative.

Ashley Knebel

Ashley Knebel is a second-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School with a background in English and narrative writing. A Brown University graduate who studied representations of medicine in literature at Oxford, she also gained experience as a medical writer in the biotech industry. Knebel is passionate about using narrative to enhance communication and well-being in medical training and looks forward to helping students develop skills to process and write about their experiences.

Rachel Balaban

Rachel Balaban is a Rhode Island teaching artist and movement educator dedicated to making dance accessible to all, particularly for individuals with movement challenges and aging bodies. She founded Dance for All People (DAPpers), a multigenerational program for those with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers, and co-founded Artists and Scientists as Partners (ASaP) at Brown University to explore the impact of art on neurological disorders. As a Teaching Associate at the Warren Alpert Medical School, she leads movement workshops and integrates intergenerational art into medical education, empowering older adults, caregivers, and medical students to build meaningful connections.

Mariah Stump, MD

Mariah Stump, MD, MPH, FACP, DipABLM, ABOIM, is an attending physician in Women’s Primary Care at the Women's Medicine Collaborative and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine, she integrates mind-body practices into her work as a physician and educator. Passionate about medical humanities, Dr. Stump mentors in the Arts in Medicine Track, leads Narrative Medicine workshops, and directs electives in Lifestyle and Integrative Medicine, blending her expertise in reflection, movement, and narrative into medical education.

ABOUT

Meet The Founders.

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