We continued season four talking to Dr. Brandy Schillace (author, historian and editor-in-chief of BMJ’s Medical Humanities). We focused on the topic of medicine and its engagement with the humanities. In our conversation, we discussed how the humanities engage and reflect critically upon the practices of health, and so also shape conversation and lead the way for social justice and change. We also talked about the new global initiatives launched by BMJ’s Medical Humanities.

Here are some messages we took from this great podcast, and encourage you to listen and come on a journey with us.

Adventures at the intersections

Brandy thinks of herself as an adventurer at the intersections, and our conversation took us on journeys into personal and academic understandings of health, the importance of being able to see inside a field and to simultaneously sit outside conventional disciplinary boundaries and academic practice. She wove her personal experience, creativity and academic insight into a pattern that allowed us to see personal experience and medical humanities in a new way. In our conversation, Brandy often returned to how her professional life is shaped by her own experiences.

Inside and outside perspectives

We did not only talk about Brandy’s work in academic contexts, including her editorial work for BMJ’s Medical Humanities, but we also explored other projects like the Peculiar Book Club – as we explored the values and pleasures of fiction and non-fiction writing. Brandy offered a refreshing perspective on academic research in medical humanities as someone who actively contributes to shaping research in the field but is not beholden to academia.

Medical humanities as activism

We followed along as Brandy’s life and early career led her to medical humanities as a concept and field of study. Her creativity, insight and editorial work has helped us redefine what medical humanities is and can be – especially a space for activism. We considered being freed of some of the shackles of disciplinary boundaries to explore health and wellbeing, building communities, and overcoming inequality, whilst holding to intellectual rigour. Medical Humanities becomes a space to examine big questions of human experience, inequality, social justice, health, and human ability and disability.

Come along with us in this podcast, as we break down barriers, open up a discussion about medical humanities, and see a positive future for us in this discipline.