Welcome to the brand new Stimulus journal! This is the foundation of what will one day be a collection of art, writing, music, dance, and more that will combine a passion for the fine arts with a love of the medical sciences.
This website has been designed to be as interactive as possible: although we have merely laid the groundwork out for what is to come, this page will soon be a hub of student, faculty, and alumni-made artwork and expression. As the journal is to be published online, we the editors wanted to make a more interactive experience to compliment the journal; hence, the Stimulus website was created.
Traditionally, academic journals are strictly composed of words and images. This is just one way in which Stimulus hopes to encourage change. As we, the editors, began to think through the contents of this journal and the art mediums that it will include, we realized that by allowing readers to simply download a static PDF of the journal, we were missing something. The Medical Humanities encompasses all of the fine arts, not just those that can be conveyed via words and images. Dancing, music, film: all of these art forms add color and beauty to life, and we could not envision a journal without them. Although the journal itself will include pieces of these things (hyperlinks, screen-captures, and sheet-music), we needed a medium that better showcased everything together; a digital art gallery. Although our virtual gallery is empty as this is being written, it is our vision that it will soon be filled with interactive submissions from our wonderful students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the UTA community.
Just as we do not wish the Medical Humanities to be exclusive in content, we also want it to be as inclusive as possible towards the people behind the artwork. Regardless of your background, major, age, department, or future goals, chances are, you have a unique interpretation of how the medical field inspires art. And if you are not an artist, chances are you have a unique experience, a story to tell, or perhaps you have findings to report. One of the beauties of the medical humanities fields is that it is interdisciplinary- most everyone will come into contact with the healthcare field at one point or another, and thus, everyone has their own interaction with and application of medicine. In other words, anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute.
The attached picture below is from early in the Spring 2020 semester, during our first Medical Humanities student organization meeting, only weeks before the coronavirus outbreak and panic spread throughout the United States. Although much has changed since this photo was taken, we are willing and determined to change with it; to create a more accessible, all-encompassing outlet for our talented students, staff, alumni, and community members to raise their voices and their passions and create a brighter future for the medical field, no matter the circumstances.
-- Your editors, Karyssa Nelson and Thu Nguyen
