Health Humanities Organizations, Institutes and Centres
Below, you will find an alphabetical listing of health humanities organizations, institutes, and centres around the world. This listing contains descriptions and, as available, a web link for more information.
This list is maintained by CAHH, and it is ever evolving as the health humanities landscape continues to change and grow. Please submit suggestions for changes or additions by email to: cahhsecretary@cahh.ca. Please include the name of the organization, institute, or centre; a brief description (i.e., up to 100 words); and a link to its website in the email.
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing:
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPGAHW) was formed in 2014 and aims to improve awareness of the benefits that the arts can bring to health and wellbeing. During 2015–17, the APPGAHW conducted an Inquiry into practice and research in the arts in health and social care, with a view to making recommendations to improve policy and practice. Our partners in this Inquiry have been the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, King’s College London, the Royal Society for Public Health and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities:
The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) was founded in January 1998 through the consolidation of three existing associations in the field: the Society for Health and Human Values (SHHV), the Society for Bioethics Consultation (SBC), and the American Association of Bioethics (AAB). This consolidation was organized by representatives of all three associations, was voted on by mail ballot of the full memberships in fall 1997, and was overwhelmingly approved. More information is available about the past leadership of each of these three founding organizations.
The American Osler Society is a group of physicians, medical historians, and members of related professions united by the common purpose of keeping alive the memory of William Osler, and keeping its members vigilantly attentive to the lessons found in his life and teachings. Meetings shall be held periodically to present and discuss papers on Osler’s life, his influence upon the profession, any aspect of the humanistic approach to medicine that so typified his outlook, or subject related to the history of medicine. In addition, the Society may choose to publish such essays as the presentations of the Society, monographs, and books in order to keep the memory of Osler fresh by placing before the profession a continual reminder of his high principles of life and humanism in practice and to teach others of Osler’s continuing inspiration.
Art in Global Health Center Africa (ArtGlo):
At ArtGlo, we harness the power of the arts to nurture creative leadership, and ignite bold conversations and actions....
At Art & Global Health Center Africa (ArtGlo)’s core is the belief that creativity, innovation, collaboration, and empowerment are critical to grassroots social change. All of ArtGlo’s programmes have developed organically out of the needs and assets of the communities they serve.
Arts and Health National Website (Ireland):
Arts and Health is a national website providing a focal point and resource for the field of arts and health in Ireland via resource documents, project case studies, a directory of contacts, perspectives on a range of issues and current news.
Association of Medical Humanities (UK):
The AMH is a Learned Society based in the UK promoting the development of the medical and health humanities through: an annual conference, council meetings, regional meetings, an associated journal (Medical Humanities) and a website (amh.ac.uk). It welcomes members from a broad range of disciplines and practices within medicine, healthcare, the arts and humanities.
The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE):
Is a worldwide organisation with members in 90 countries on five continents. Members include teachers, educators, researchers, administrators, curriculum developers, deans, assessors, students and trainees in medicine and the healthcare professions. AMEE promotes international excellence in education in the healthcare professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. AMEE, working with other organisations, supports teachers and institutions in their current educational activities and in the development of new approaches to curriculum planning, teaching and learning methods, assessment techniques and educational management, in response to advances in medicine, changes in healthcare delivery and patient demands and new educational thinking and techniques.
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation:
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation infuses the human connection into healthcare. We engage schools, health systems, companies, and individual clinicians in the joy and meaning of humanistic healthcare, so that they have the strength and knowledge to ensure patients and families are partners in collaborative, compassionate, and scientifically excellent care.
The goal of Arts Health Network Canada (AHNC) is to bring arts and health activities into the mainstream of Canadian life so that all Canadians are able to engage in art for the health of it, as well as the joy of it.
Balint groups are named after the psychoanalyst Michael Balint (1896-1970). In the late 1950s, Michael and his wife Enid began holding psychological training seminars for GPs in London. This work was first described in the book The Doctor, his Patient and the Illness (1957). There were no lectures and the doctors’ education was based on case presentation and discussion in a small group of nine or ten with a psychoanalyst leader. To begin with, Balint encouraged the group members to hold ‘long interviews’ with their problem patients. This helped the doctors to concentrate on becoming good listeners. Subsequently the focus changed to studying the relationship between doctor and patient in the context of every day ordinary-length consultations. The groups met once a week for a number of years so that patients and their progress could be followed up. The continuity also enabled group members to feel at ease with each other. Since those early days, Balint groups have spread across the world and in 22 countries there are national Balint Societies whose aim is to foster and develop the Balint approach.
The Canadian Association for Health Humanities (CAHH):
Exists to promote the exchange of ideas and critical dialogue among scholars and practitioners, as well as foster collaborative explorations nationally and internationally. Through meetings, publications and related activities, CAHH seeks to facilitate initiatives as well as interdisciplinary, cross-professional inquiry into research and educational practices relevant to the health humanities.
Center for Humanities in Medicine at Mayo Clinic
The Center for Humanities in Medicine supports Mayo Clinic’s primary value, the needs of the patient come first, by integrating the arts and other expressions of human culture into the healing environment. The Center engages interconnected communities of patients, families, staff, learners, and the public to promote the artful and compassionate delivery of healthcare. Humanities in Medicine activities are open to Mayo Clinic patients, staff, visitors and community members and are made possible by the generous donations of grateful benefactors.
Center for Narrative Practice:
The Center for Narrative Practice believes that critical, skilled attention to narrative, stories and storytelling, in all of its forms, should be recognized as a part of all disciplines and fields. We believe that creativity can be learned, and practiced, and can change the way people communicate, teach, and learn. Through narrative practice, we aim to aid the world in becoming a more humane, accepting, and moral place, and to aid individuals in becoming more engaged participants in their lives and careers.
Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes Health & Medical Humanities Network:
Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes (CHCI) Health and Medical Humanities Network is a hub for health and medical humanities research and collaboration. With over 30 member institutions worldwide, the CHCI Health and Medical Humanities Network is one of the largest organizations in the field, forging new interdisciplinary networks and collaborations between campus, clinic, and community.
European Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSAeu):
SLSAeu is the sister organisation of the international, USA-based Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. It welcomes colleagues in the humanities, the social sciences, the arts, all fields of science, medicine, engineering, computer sciences as well as independent scholars, artists and scientists.
Federation for the Humanities and Social Science:
The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences promotes research and teaching for the advancement of an inclusive, democratic and prosperous society. With a membership now comprising over 160 universities, colleges and scholarly associations, the Federation represents a diverse community of 91,000 researchers and graduate students across Canada. The Federation organizes Canada’s largest academic gathering, the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, bringing together more than 8,000 participants each year.
The Glasgow Medical Humanities Network:
The Glasgow Medical Humanities Network is a programme of activity bringing into closer integration and strategic co-ordination the centres of excellence in medical humanities currently distributed across the city’s higher education institutions, campuses (including Crichton Campus, Dumfries), and collections.
Promotes health humanities scholarship, education, and practices through interdisciplinary methods and theories that focus on the intersection of the arts and humanities, health, illness, and healthcare. Our goals are to: Promote understanding of the experiences of patients, caregivers, and communities as they are shaped in relation to models of disease, illness, health, and wellness; Share practices and scholarship through an annual meeting; Educate the public, healthcare professionals, and educators about the history, practice, and study of health humanities.
The Institute for Physician Wellness:
The Institute for Physician Wellness gets you closer to the things that matter; living your version of a life well-lived in and outside of medicine. Through our coaching, retreats, resource library, classes and consultations, we support attending physicians across North America and beyond. In addition, our educational initiatives and outreach to physicians-in-training nurture a healthier future for all.
The Madness and Literature Network:
The Madness and Literature Network aims to stimulate cooperation and co-working between researchers, academics, clinicians, service users, carers and creative writers in order to develop an interdisciplinary, global dialogue about the issues raised around representations of madness in literature. Literary research has become a key resource for the advancement of medical and health professionals' education, affording broader perspectives, critical thinking skills and promoting an emotionally receptive or empathic climate for clinical practice. With this project, we are seeking to form new methodologies, strengthen and maintain partnerships and enable comprehensive critical dialogues across the fields of literature, linguistics and mental health care.
Medical & Health Humanities Africa Network:
Medical & Health Humanities Africa (MHHA) is a new open network which aims to bring practitioners and researchers across Africa together to develop work in this area, and provide information on related initiatives across the world.
MLA Commons TC Medical Humanities and Health Studies:
An MLA network for scholars engaged in the study of representations of health, illness, and health professions
The Program in Narrative and Healthcare Humanities, Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto)
Many healthcare faculties in North America and Europe have come to emphasize evidence-based medicine and clinical research at the expense of creating a milieu where the aesthetic and humanistic approaches to patient care can be explored and validated. A growing international literature on the impact of exposure to the medical humanities demonstrates that physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers who pursue creative, artistic and intellectual interests inside and outside of clinical work are more likely to bring curiosity and sensitivity to their exchanges with patients. Cultivating narrative competence (the capacity to read, write and share complex, fully embodied stories) enhances interviewing skills, empathy and the capacity to bear witness to suffering. Healers who cultivate a humanistic approach throughout their careers, from students to clinician or teacher, often report higher levels of professional satisfaction, vocational renewal, personal well-being and resilience to stress.
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA):
The Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts welcomes colleagues in the sciences, engineering, technology, computer science, medicine, the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, and independent scholars and artists. SLSA members share an interest in problems of science and representation, and in the cultural and social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine.
Wellcome is a politically and financially independent foundation. Our founder, Sir Henry Wellcome, was a medical entrepreneur, collector and philanthropist. How we work today reflects the breadth of his interests, and his conviction that health can be improved when research generates, tests and investigates new ideas. Our governance is based on an updated version of Henry’s will.