Medical Humanities and Arts

Dear Readers,

Project Hx is a collection of narratives and photographs with a goal to highlight the rich diversity of the medical community. It is a portraiture of people’s stories and backgrounds, their experiences and adventures in healthcare, and ultimately a way to show a human side behind the oftentimes faceless nature of medicine. We aim to document these stories and perspectives in the form of biographical interviews and portrait photography as a way to provide our audience with daily glimpses into the human lives surrounding medicine. The people interviewed portray only a fraction of the countless number of unique attitudes and ideologies that represent the medical community, but we hope that it can serve as kindling for continued conversation. While reading the stories, please keep in mind that narratives are powerful only when they are genuine. They can be genuine only under the climate of acceptance and open-mindedness. Thus, we hope that each story is received free of judgment and prejudice.This year’s fourth issue is particularly personal, as it explores the thoughts and opinions that medical students and healthcare providers have regarding mental health in medicine, and their own personal journey towards finding strength in this profession. Given the intimate nature of this theme, most of our interviewees opted towards anonymity, but we are grateful that they were willing to step forward to reveal their personal struggles, and put a face - though not in the literal sense - on the true reality of mental health challenges that come with the rigorous journey towards becoming a physician.

Sincerely,

Project Hx Team

UC Irvine School of Medicine

Editor-In-Chiefs: Thalia Nguyen, Soe Thein; Design Editor: May Hui