NBM Talks: Podcast from the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab

Jordan Goodridge is a family physician, clinical educator, and 2SLGBTQIA+ health advocate, who seeks to advance medical education through equity, diversity, and inclusion in medicine. In this conversation with Sarah Kim, we explore how storytelling in film and narrative can be reflective of lived experiences of trans and gender-diverse patient populations and how they can be used to inform meaning...

Lisa Richardson shares insights from her years of experience in the health humanities, including her involvement with projects such as the Seeds of Change art initiative, and invites us to expand our perspective on different ways of knowing, seeing, and communicating in this illuminating conversation with Sarah Kim (Temerty Medicine Health Humanities Theme Lead). Lisa also speaks to the transforma...

Sarah de Leeuw reads from her poetry collection: Pine. Her vivid imagery explores wildfire-scarred geographies and the profound shifts of middle age that culminate in reflections on change, resilience, and the deep connections between land and self.

Writer, researcher, and professor Sarah de Leeuw joins us for a reflection on her professional journey and how she discovered the power of narrative in her own work. Sarah shares insights from her academic and creative practice, exploring the intersections of geography, colonialism, and personal experience. About Our Guest: Sarah de Leeuw is Canada Research Chair in Humanities and Health Inequitie...

Muiris Houston reads a creative piece that began from a visual writing prompt facilitated by Damian Tarnopolsky in a section of the Foundational Certificate in Narrative-Based Medicine.

Based in Dublin, Muiris Houston is a physician and journalist, and sits on the NBM Lab’s International Advisory Board. In this wide-ranging conversation he discusses his work in writing and medicine, and the challenges and opportunities narrative-based medicine faces today. About Our Guest: Muiris Houston is especially interested in the stories patients tell, which led him to complete a master&#39...

Author and Foundational Certificate alum Leanne Toshiko Simpson shares her thoughts on the connections between her fiction writing and her path in the health humanities, and speaks about the inspiration behind her new novel Never Been Better (HarperCollins, 2024), out now. About Our Guest: Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race Yonsei writer, educator, and psychiatric survivor from Toronto. She lo...

Nick Pimlott shares a reflection on his early days as a family physician, touching on the influence of John Berger's classic book A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor .

NBM Lab member and editor of Canadian Family Physician, Nick Pimlott, sat down with us to discuss his experiences as a family doctor and second career as a writer. About Our Guest: Nick Pimlott is an academic family physician based in Toronto whose clinical and research interests include dementia care by family physicians, care of the elderly, and the development and application of clinical practi...

This original poem by Sarah Kim presents a long-held objection to the distant and impersonal approach towards patients that is traditionally assumed by physicians. An alternative is a path towards collective compassion in relationship-based care.

In this fascinating conversation, Sarah Kim (Temerty Medicine Health Humanities Theme Lead) brings her attentive eye to such diverse issues as medical education, mindfulness, high performance, and the practitioner’s body, considering how they all relate back to the questions raised by narrative-based medicine. She also reflects on her own professional journey and the value of engaging with the art...

Alisha Kaplan reads an original poem developed out of a daily practice that consisted of writing a haiku each morning during a period of her life navigating graduate school and health.

Poet and NBM Lab member, Alisha Kaplan, discusses her work, narrative-based medicine teaching, writing tips, and connections to her life on Bela Farm. She also shares her work and interest in food as medicine. About Our Guest: Alisha Kaplan is a poet, educator, and practitioner of narrative medicine. Using the arts, she works with health professionals and patients to reinvigorate medicine with car...

Paula Holmes-Rodman reflects on her mother’s passing in this poignant reading of a creative non-fiction piece originally published in Intima: The Journal of Narrative Medicine .

Foundational Certificate alum Paula Holmes-Rodman is an ethnographer, writer, caregiver, and advocate who spoke with our program leads about her journey towards narrative-based medicine and her current work in the field. About Our Guest: Based in Courtenay, British Columbia, Paula Holmes-Rodman is an anthropologist, writer, caregiver, and an advocate for cancer patients on the autism spectrum. She...

Allan Peterkin (Program Director at the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab) is leading the growth of narrative-based medicine in Canada and abroad. In this conversation with our program leads, Allan shares how he weaves his passion for medicine and literature throughout his professional career. Allan also touches on how he sees the field of narrative-based medicine evolving and the importance of honouri...

This conversation was originally recorded in March 2024. Geriatrician Mireille Norris (Temerty Medical Education Black Health Theme Lead at the University of Toronto) shares how we can continue to engage in important dialogue year-round through the arts and humanities in this conversation with Sarah Kim (Temerty Medicine Health Humanities Theme Lead at the University of Toronto). Reflecting on wor...

Upreet Dhaliwal reads an original poem reflecting on how relationships ebb and flow. This poem was originally published in her collection InVerse Medicine: Poems About Things Often Left Unsaid .

Upreet Dhaliwal reads an original poem from her collection InVerse Medicine: Poems About Things Often Left Unsaid .

Foundational Certificate alum Upreet Dhaliwal's work draws upon her rich background as a physician, educator, poet, and editor. She discusses her professional journey towards narrative-based medicine with our program leads in this illuminating conversation. About Our Guest: Upreet Dhaliwal is a retired director-professor who worked for 30 years at the University College of Medical Sciences, Un...

Conor Mc Donnell reads an original, ekphrastic poem meditating on Francis Bacon’s painting “Study for the Nurse in Battleship Potemkin.”

Conor Mc Donnell reads an original poem that opens his first collection of poems Recovery Community (Mansfield Press, 2020).

Conor Mc Donnell reads an original poem that considers human anatomy from a different perspective.

Conor Mc Donnell, Foundational Certificate alum and anesthesiologist at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, reflects on his introduction to narrative-based medicine and the value that writing has brought to his personal and professional life in this fruitful conversation with our program leads. About Our Guest: Conor Mc Donnell is a staff anesthesiologist at SickKids Hospital and associate professor in...

Miriam Colleran reflects on the passage of time in this original poem published in Sparks of Calliope: A Journal of Poetic Observations .