Residents Create Art to Reflect on Experiences of 2020
Pandemic-influenced art created and presented by residents during the Resident Scholarly Project Program (RSPP) Scholarly Day.
Earlier this summer, the College of Medicine — Tucson’s Department of Family and Community Medicine (FCM) residents gathered for their Resident Scholarly Project Program (RSPP) Scholarly Day, but it was unlike any that FCM had held before.
“The pandemic completely disrupted our residents’ ability to carry out their scholarly projects as originally planned,” said Myra Muramoto, MD, MPH, chair of FCM. So, the RSPP directors, Uma Nair, PhD, and Julie Armin, PhD, together with Karyn Kolman, MD, developed an innovative alternative that gave residents an option to create and present an expressive arts project, reflecting on their experiences in 2020 and what it meant to them as residents.
“All the RSPP projects and presentations were insightful, moving, and spoke eloquently to the tremendous hardships, daily challenges and emotional traumas that our residents experienced as young physicians who were truly on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Muramoto. ”These projects also spoke to the great courage, determination, strength and resilience of our residents and faculty. Even as they were reflecting on having shouldered a huge burden from the pandemic, the residents' projects spoke about hope, the future and a belief in themselves, their colleagues and in having chosen to become family physicians,” Dr. Muramoto added.
To read a synopsis of each resident’s project, with links to the artwork and artist statement, poster or music, see the FCM Matters special edition newsletter. To view a video of all of the RSPP Scholarly Day presentations, click here.
Nicolette Barbour, MD, MPH, presents her multimedia work called "My Love Letter to Family Medicine: You have so much potential" at the annual Resident Scholarly Project Program Scholarly Day. Dr. Barbour wrote in her artist statement, “While investments in primary care have been shown to positively impact health outcomes, still some say that family medicine is no longer that valuable and a relic of the past. I say that family medicine has a unique place within modern medicine; however, it requires us as a specialty to evolve.”
Sean Maiolo, MD, stands with his painting titled "All the Things We Think We Know" at the annual Resident Scholarly Project Program Scholarly Day. Dr. Maiolo said in his artist statement, "The name of the piece holds the key to a place where we can always meet and walk together through that moment in time like friends walking together in the desert when spring blooms because that piece is no longer who I am or what I will always believe.”
Jeiran Javaherian, DO, said "We have all learned a lot about ourselves this past year, and many of us have found new hobbies; for me, one of those hobbies was painting. Dr. Javaherian’s painting is titled "Beyond the See."
"I chose to create the multimedia piece 'Layers of Emotion' to reflect how COVID affected me. When reflecting on 2020, not one emotion explains the year," said Jennifer Veaco, MD.
Weston LaGrandeur, MD, presents his multimedia artwork called, "Decreasing Healthcare Disparities by Increasing Resident Involvement in Free Clinics," at the RSPP event. "By increasing resident involvement in free clinics, there is a relative increase in providers trained to work with underserved populations, and therefore, more access to care for underserved populations," Dr. LaGrandeur said.
"I chose a basic abstract, monochrome composition for this piece because, although seeing us working during this past year seemed simple, there were many complexities beneath the surface,” said Ambereen Ahmed, MD, of her piece "Lights in the Darkness."
Joseph “Joey” Harkins, MD, and Javier Laguillo, MD, presented their work titled "Hurt" together. Their artist statement said, "During the course of creating this project, we built a deeper understanding of the loss, loneliness, and despair we felt through the past year, as well as a heightened sense of pride for the work we have all completed and hope for things still to come."
Connie Herrera, MD, said her painting, "Flow," was inspired by a patient. "The experience is not unlike many others, but I had not had a patient be so concerned about the force of the oxygen like this patient was. The thought of flow and oxygen were what inspired this painting."
"A Spectrum of Emotion" by Bryan Brown, DO, all started with one word. “One word: COVID-19. Little did I know how dramatically this one word was going to not only affect my life, but the lives of everyone across the world."
The Resident Scholarly Project Program Scholarly Day took place at Lodge on the Desert, Tucson, AZ.