Summary of the 2020 essay contest.
In 2020, those participating in the Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards had to contend with a unique challenge: how to write an original research paper in the humanities or social sciences without access to physical libraries. The essayists met the challenge and the resulting submissions were truly impressive. This year, we had the pleasure of hearing the results of the students' work at the Del Maestro Family Medical Students' Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium.
In addition to congratulating the participants, we must give our deepest thanks to the mentors who worked with the students and to the essay awards committee, whose members had the unenviable task of choosing winners from a pool where each contribution was worthy in its own right.
The results of the 2020 contest were as follows:
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First place: Saman Arfaie, "
Exploring the Relationship Between Robert Schumann's Bipolar Disorder and His Creative Musical Genius.." Reflective piece by Saman Arfaie. -
Second place: Minahil Khan, "Colourful Innovations in Neuropathology: Robert Hooper and the Shift in Portrayal of the Morbid Brain in the Nineteenth Century."
Reflective piece by Minahil Khan -
Third place: Cassandra Poirier, "The Path of the Wounded Healer: Revisiting the Study of Shamanism Through a Phenomenological Approach."
Reflective piece by Cassandra Poirier.
In addition to the finalists above, we thank the following essayists for participating in the symposium:
- Jenny Jing, “A Need to Renegotiate Physicians’ Social Contract in Sports Medicine.” Reflective piece by Jenny Jing.
- Kayleigh Beaveridge, “Syphilis to Autism, How the Anti-Vaccination Movement of Today is an Echo of the Past.” Reflective piece by Kayleigh Beaveridge.
- Britta Gustavson, “Re-embodying Medicine: William Carlos Williams and the Ethics of Attention.” Reflective piece by Britta Gustavson.
- Matthew J. Schulz, “Neuroanesthesia and Neurosurgery’s Symbiotic Development.” Reflective piece by Matthew Schulz.
We would also like to acknowledge the work of those unable to present at the symposium:
- Ericka Iny, "The Commodification of Humanism: Methods, Marketing, and Morals of a Post-Modern Shift in the Philosophy of Medicine." Reflective piece by Ericka Iny.
- Kacper Niburski, “The Principles and Practice of Death: The Oslerian Conflicted Conception of Dying.” Reflective piece by Kacper Niburski. A published version of Kacper's essay appeared in the Journal of Medical Biography.
