PROGRAM Highlights
February 11, 2024
Meet senior medical student, Angela Tang-Tan who has pursued her passion for creative writing as she navigates medical school. Tan is a Dean’s Research Scholar who has published poetry in the past year and has also written reflective blog pieces that provide a humanistic perspective on healthcare. Read more about our student spotlight feature here.
Interview with Angela Tang-Tan
1. Tell us about yourself and your career.
My name is Angela Tang-Tan, and I’m an (almost) 4th year medical student who’s currently on a Dean’s Research Scholar year and planning to apply into neurosurgery this year. I went to college at UC Berkeley, graduating in 2020, and worked as an ambulance EMT for 1.5 years during the COVID 19 pandemic before coming to medical school at Keck USC. Over the last year, I published two poems “Code OB” and “Pediatric Hemicraniectomy” in the Spring 2024 Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine. My Field Notes essay “Top Surgery” and Studio Art piece “White Coat Ceremony” were just published in the Fall 2024 Intima. I have also written for Intima’s Crossroads Blog twice with the pieces “At the End of a Call Shift, Who Gets to Go Home?” and “How We Doctors Learn How to Act and React.”
2. How important do you think the intersection between humanities and medicine is? And what can be learned from it?
I understand the world through stories and narrative. I’ve been engaging in art, poetry, and other forms of creative writing for as long as I can remember, and the defining question of my life was whether to become a scientist, or a writer. When I chose to pursue medicine midway through college, I thought that this would mean giving up my inclinations to be a writer. How would there be room for creative expression in the world of orders, medications, and sterile fields? And how would I ever find the time?
I had resigned myself to basically giving up creative writing until I came across the field of narrative medicine, through a third-year seminar. It opened my eyes to the potential to pursue a career as a physician-writer, or physician-poet, the same way that we are often encouraged to see ourselves as physician-scientists. I think the intersection between the humanities and medicine could not be more crucial. Narratives of trauma, sickness, and healing are some of the most beautiful and harrowing stories that can be told in this world. I see a great beauty in making the telling of them my life’s work.
3. What has been one of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered in your career?
Honestly, and unsurprisingly, the biggest challenge I’ve encountered in my career has to do with balance. Maybe I should come up with something else, because I’m sure everyone reading this has heard enough about work-life balance, but it’s what’s on my mind. It’s hard to make time for creative writing when you’re in the hospital for most of the day, and when you’re not in the hospital, you’re thinking about research and that other type of publication. It’s hard to make time to think, to process what you’ve said and done and seen and translate it into art. Writing is not fast for me. It cannot be rushed or compressed into a 1-hour block of time between meetings. It is dreadfully inconvenient. I still haven’t figured out the best way to sustain my creative side, when there are a thousand other priorities pulling me away.
4. What writing piece has impacted your work the most?
I particularly enjoyed Oliver Sack’s “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” which I read about a year ago. I thought it was a poignant piece of narrative medicine writing. I particularly enjoyed how he brought out the humanity, whimsy, and wonder in the stories of each of his neurology patients. I decided, after reading that book, that I’ll probably never become the next Harvey Cushing, but I would love to become the next Oliver Sacks.
5. What is something you’d like for everyone to take away from writing?
A while ago, I got some advice from a good friend that I took to heart. I forget exactly how it was phrased, but it was something about reading as inhalation and writing as exhalation. It’s a cycle, one activity indelibly linked to the other. To write, you must read and read quite a lot. Now, when I feel like I don’t have a single word to write down, I know what to do to find that inspiration: open some new books.
Event Recap: Poetry Reading with Alumnus Dr. Jonathan Chou
On January 16th the HEAL Program hosted a Lunch and Learn event featuring Alumnus Dr. Jonathan Chou as he read from his debut poetry collection, “Resemblance/與”. His book explores the 1947 and White Terror period in Taiwan’s history. Joined by Associate Director of the HEAL and Narrative Medicine programs, Dr. Erika Wright, in a conversation about the poetry and the writing process, Dr. Chou discussed the meaning behind the poems and read some excerpts from his book. He explained how he started writing the book during the Covid pandemic and how the photographic nature of the book was directly influenced by the visual aspect of the Zoom calls he had at the time. During his reading, he also delved into the experience of being Asian American in America. His reading and talk allowed students and faculty to learn more about his work and his creative process. To watch the event recording, please click below.
M.S. in Narrative Medicine
Learn more about the Narrative Medicine program today! Narrative Medicine is a clinical practice, a method, and an academic field of study that centers individual and community stories in the service of health and social justice. Narrative Medicine works in a range of settings as a tool for building community, developing a practice of self-reflection, and becoming open to other points of view. Join us for an information session!
Events Calendar