THE
ART OF MEDICINE

Treaty Acknowledgment

The University of Alberta acknowledges we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of First Nations, Metis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

Recognition & Appreciation

The Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) component of the MD Program’s longitudinal Physicianship course matches medical students with individuals with chronic medical conditions to promote an understanding of the lived experience of illness. Over the span of two years, visiting every few months, medical students gain insight into what it is like to live with a chronic condition. This experience gives medical students an appreciation of the challenges patients and family members face on a daily basis and influence of social determinants of health on a patient’s illness experience.

We are deeply grateful to all the Patient Mentors who volunteered to share their experience of living with a chronic medical condition, and very glad for all our Med 2022 students learned over the past two years.

Educational opportunities such as the Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) and PIE Interpretive Project are always the result of the vision and commitment of a team. We are pleased to acknowledge Dr. Tracey Hillier, the first Indigenous Associate Dean of the MD Program (2015-2020), and Dr. Helly Goez, Assistant Dean, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusiveness, and Physicianship Course Director, MD Program, for their leadership in relation to socially accountable curriculum innovation. The Interpretive Project, a required capstone component of PIE was first introduced in 2014 and continues to evolve through the ongoing effort of faculty-lead Dr. Pamela Brett-MacLean, director of the Arts & Humanities in Health & Medicine (AHHM) program. We are also deeply appreciative of Dr. Sarah Burton-MacLeod, Physicianship Coordinator and Dr. Lillian Au, Physicianship Thread Lead, as well as MD Program administrators Melissa Coumont, Laurie Logan, and Lisa Bussiere for their many contributions which have continued to ensure the success of PIE and the PIE Interpretive Project over the years.

Our thanks to everyone who helped create this website: Thomas Jeffery, Designer and Patrick von Hauff, Designer - both with Academic Technologies; Cynthia Nguyen (Med 2022), Google site “whisperer” par excellence!; as well as Peter Holmes (Med 2022) and Steph Dalmer (Med 2023), our amazing student curators.

We congratulate and thank all of the Med 2022 class for their wonderful creative projects and many thoughtful insights they have shared with us on this website!

We would also like to recognize Alice Yu, Cynthia Nguyen, Jonathan Lee, Alex Le, and Michelle Wong (Med 2022) whose project “I Am Kat: An Exploration of Patient Identity through Children’s Literature” provided the initial inspiration for the layered GIF featured on our banner that was designed by Tom Jeffery.