The Medical Humanities Initiative has become my intellectual home during my time at Georgetown

Ella Castanier (COL’24)

The Medical Humanities Initiative has become my intellectual home during my time at Georgetown. Beginning college online due to Covid-19, I fittingly took Dr. Krishnan’s pandemics course my freshman fall. The clinic and the lab of traditional STEM disciplines was replaced by novels and historical accounts which emphasized that states of health and disease are determined first and foremost by the culture and society in which we inhabit. I was struck by how medicine permeates every aspect of the human experience, and the relevance of studying the health humanities whether one is a patient or practitioner. Since then, the MHI has provided me with exceptional mentorship, allowed me to perform independent research, and supported me when presenting at conferences. I have created my own undergraduate curriculum in the history of medicine by declaring a medical humanities minor in conjunction with a history major. I am now writing a senior thesis on the history of race and psychiatry in the United States with support and mentorship from the medical humanities program.