Welcome to the Medical Humanities Interest Group (MHIG) homepage.  Founded in the Fall of 2000, MHIG functions to promote the enjoyment of the humanities among medical students.  The “humanities” includes a variety of disciplines including the visual arts, philosophy, literature,  history and religion.  MHIG exists to provide medical students with meaningful interaction with these disciplines.  MHIG is not for experts, it is for medical students who have an interest in the humanities alongside their interest in becoming competent physicians.   Feel free to contact MHIG with any ideas or suggestions. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

DISCUSSION: "Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind"?
DATE: Monday, November 30, 2009; 12:00 Noon
LOCATION: D1.502, South Campus, Lunch provided for the first 50 people
GUEST SPEAKER: Fred Grinnell, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Cell Biology

Dr. Fred Grinnell will give a lecture on examining the underlying philosophical assumptions of science and religion, and their relationship to each other. Dr. Grinnell is a professor of cell biology at UT Southwestern and author of two books: "The Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion meet Objectivity and Logic" and "The Scientific Attitude." Dr. Grinnell is a great speaker with interests in the intersection of science and philosophy, and this should be a thought-provoking lecture. For more information, see his web site: http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/FrederickGrinnell/reflecting.htm.

FILM SCREENING: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
DATE: Friday, November 6th, 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Bryan Williams Student Center - back lounge (near the ping pong tables)
RSVP:: If you think you might come, so we can order enough food.

Pizza, popcorn, and an excellent film. This will be the first of what we hope becomes a series of film screenings that mix beautiful cinematography and acting with gritty issues and experiences that challenge us to examine the realities of medicine and disease, and it will be followed by a discussion afterwards. Suggestions for subsequent film screenings are much welcomed! Please RSVP if you think you might come, so that we can order enough food.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly:
"The film tells the remarkable tale of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the world-renowned editor of French ELLE magazine, who suffered a stroke and was paralyzed by the inexplicable "locked in" syndrome at the age of 43. Bauby's only way of communicating with the outside world was by blinking with one eye, and after several dedicated helpers--a string of impossibly beautiful women --helped him to speak through this seemingly irrelevant gesture, he began to produce the words that would form his memoir. Along the way, as he swam in and out of consciousness, memories from his past swelled into the present, resulting in a cinematic experience that is at once heartbreaking and hopeful. Schnabel somehow manages to convey Bauby's internal life with remarkable clarity, employing first-person perspective, striking cinematography, and Amalric's pained, life-affirming monologues. The result is a wholly original experience, a painful and tender portrait of a life that is made all the more exhilarating because of its close proximity to death."

MHIG Leadership Contact Information:

Jennifer Harris, Class of 2013
jennifer.harris@utsouthwestern.edu

Evan Wilgama, Class of 2010
evan.walgama@utsouthwestern.edu