I studied studio art in college and have always found drawing to be a source of comfort. During my first year of medical school, I often turned to sketching as a means to incorporate wellness into my daily activities and de-stress. In particular, I turned to drawing during our anatomy course, creating “mini” 15-20 minute sketches of anatomic structures as we learned about them in lab. These drawings not only helped me reinforce the material through an active process, but they also provided me with a creative outlet. Using art as a tool in medical education has been a passion of mine and lead me to start Penn Med’s Arts & Medicine Student Group during the Fall of 2017. These drawings motivated me to incorporate “anatomy art” drawing sessions to parallel the anatomy lab experience as part of the Art & Medicine group. Seeing my peers involved in these drawing sessions has been inspiring and hopefully provides others with a creative outlet as a means to cope with medical school stresses.
Jennifer Siegel is an MS3 at the Perelman School of Medicine. Jennifer can be reached by email at [email protected].
