Contributors

Woods Nash, PhD, MPH, teaches at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. A health humanities scholar, he works at the intersection of narrative medicine, ethics, literary studies, and creative writing. He is editor of The Health Humanities and Camus’s The Plague.

Woods Nash, PhD, MPH, teaches at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. A health humanities scholar, he works at the intersection of narrative medicine, ethics, literary studies, and creative writing. He is editor of The Health Humanities and Camus’s The Plague.

Brandon Ba is a second-year medical student at McGovern Medical School. A 2022 Rice University graduate in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, he enjoys weightlifting, basketball, gardening, and cars. Brandon reflected on transgenerational relationships with medicine and explored Buddhist medicine sites in the MRD Lab.

Marcia Brennan, PhD, is the Carolyn and Fred McManis Professor of Humanities at Rice University, where she works in the fields of Modern ARt HIstory and the Medical Humanities. She also serves as a LIterary Artist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Amanda Cachia, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Arts Leadership in the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston. She is the author of The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art and Institutional Critique (2024) and Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Medicine, Activism (2025).

Alyssa B. Cahoy is the Communications Manager at the University of Houston Division of Research. She earned her BA in Health Sciences and English from Rice University. Through community-engaged methods, her research investigates chronicity, such as illness, cultural amnesia, and poetic tradition, and how they are molded by sociopolitical milieu.

Alejandro Chaoul, Ph.D., is the founding director of The Jung Center’s Mind Body Spirit Institute, as well as adjunct faculty at MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Integrative Medicine Program and UT Health’s McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics. His dissertation at Rice University focused on applications of Tibetan mind-body practices in contemporary medical settings.

Andrew Childress, PhD is the Assistant Director of the Humanities Expression and Arts Lab at Baylor College of Medicine. His research examines the impact of arts and humanities integration within medical education on professional identity formation. He teaches medical humanities with a focus on storytelling through literary and visual images.

Alex Crow is an illustrator and graphic designer who recently graduated from the University of Houston. He has a deep passion in using the arts to serve as a vehicle in educating and entertaining people. Alex provided illustrations for Innovations in Arts and Health.

Saagar Dhanjani is a Rice University graduate with a strong interest in public health and medical humanities. He founded the Ensuring Health Foundation, aiming to insure homeless populations in San Diego County. Saagar developed an app to improve primary care access and has experience in biomedical engineering research. He aspires to become a surgeon while engaging in healthcare policy and accessibility initiatives.

Caroline is a lecturer at University of Houston for the MA in Arts Leadership program’s Arts and Health Certificate. She teaches Healthcare Administration, Policy, and Research. She is a photographer, curator, and writer with a great passion for working with Houston’s communities and championing the healing potential of the arts. She holds a Master’s in Arts Leadership and a Bachelor’s in Biology and Art History from the University of Houston.

Quinn Franklin works in the Cancer and Hematology Center of Texas Children’s Hospital

Renee J. Flores, MD, MHSA, EdD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at McGovern Medical School. She specializes in narrative medicine, focusing on cultivating clinical competence through storytelling and emphasizing empathy and reflection in medical practice.

Todd Frazier serves as the Gerald Dubin, M.D. Presidential Distinguished Director in the Art of Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM). The Mission of CPAM is to effectively translate the collaborative potential of arts and medicine to the holistic healthcare environment of Houston Methodist.

Michelle Garcia worked as a Production Assistant for Innovations in Arts and Health: A Field Guide to Local Collaborations between Healthcare, Academia, and Community Organizations.

Caroline Goeser, Ph.D., is W.T. and Louise J. Moran Chair of Learning and Interpretation at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, where she leads the education, public program, and community engagement initiatives. She is project co-director of the MFAH World Faiths Initiative and a scholar of American art history.

Hannah Grunwald is Program Coordinator for the MA in Arts Leadership Program at the University of Houston

Carol B. Herron holds an M.A in Therapeutic Recreation from Texas Woman’s University and a B.A. in Dance and Psychology from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Over the past thirty years she has worked with patients of all ages in variety of treatment settings.

Carol is the Coordinator of the Periwinkle Arts In Medicine Program at the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, Texas Children’s Hospital. This program brings performing and creative arts to patients, siblings and caregivers at multiple campuses. She has established relationships and residencies with many leading community arts organizations art. She also coordinates the Making A Mark annual art show, featuring art and creative writing by children whose lives have been effected by cancer and blood disorders.

As a cornerstone of her work over many years, Shana Hoehn has gone about collecting images of women in popular culture as they are depicted in states of both rapture and psychosis. Her ongoing search scans multiple arenas and eras, from movies, medicine, and theatre to newspapers, advertisements, and even car ornaments. An arched back, splayed arms, and rolling eyes are recurring in this visual taxonomy as Hoehn examines the formation and deployment of an archetype which positions women under the spell. She describes this continuing research and growing archive as “a personal and historical inquiry into the aesthetics that allegorize the femme form.” Hoehn is joined in this project by writer Ruslana Lichtzier, who adds a collage of historical texts that describe women’s madness in history; together, they collectively traverse the way this diagnosis and visual trope travel through pop culture and are weaponized against women.

Mary Horton is a faculty of the UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School in Educational Programs and McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics. She has worked in higher education for over thirty years. Her scholarly interests include humanities in medical education, history of psychiatry, geriatrics, and narrative medicine practices.

Sabariah Hussein is a PhD Candidate at Rice University. Her work explores Islamic apocalypticism and eschatology, offering insights into how end-times visions shape religious and social dynamics. She employs an interdisciplinary approach combining historical analysis with ecological studies, medical humanities, and gender perspectives.

Ony Iheanacho, MS, is from Houston, Texas, and is a medical student at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine

Eddie Jackson is a bioanalytical chemist working in veterinary pharmaceutical development. A 2022 Rice University graduate with a BA in Chemistry, Eddie enjoys fashion, local arts, weightlifting, and video games. They explored the global dimensions of health and healing as a research lead in the Medicine Race Democracy Lab.

Megan G. Jiao, BS, is a fourth-year medical student at McGovern Medical School planning to go into neurology. She is an aspiring academic physician hoping to pursue innovative and interdisciplinary scholarship merging the humanities and sciences, with interests ranging from cultural anthropology to neuroethics to clinical applications for emerging technology.

Sriya Kakarla is a first-year medical student at McGovern Medical School and a Rice University alumna with a major in Health Sciences and Spanish, minor in Medical Humanities. Her research interests include gastroenterology and cardiology, with a commitment to expanding healthcare access for underserved populations.

Anisah Khan worked as a Production Assistant for Innovations in Arts and Health: A Field Guide to Local Collaborations between Healthcare, Academia, and Community Organizations.

Anson J. Koshy, MD, MBE is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics with Baylor College of Medicine and Adjunct Associate Professor and Artist-in-Residence with the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics. A visual artist, health humanities educator, and developmental pediatrician, Anson has a focus at the intersection of arts and health.

Shay Thornton Kulha is an arts and health administrator dedicated to integrating the arts within healthcare. She has led initiatives at the Center for Performing Arts Medicine for a decade, continuing a career in advocacy work. Kulha holds an MBA and MFA from CSULB, and is a Notre Dame alumna.

Esther Lee is a Rice University graduate and former research assistant in the Medicine Race Democracy Lab. She has experience in neurological image analysis, biomedical literature review, and project planning. Esther is interested in patient advocacy and the humanistic dimensions of research.

Jason Lee is a Rice University graduate and served as a research lead for the Medicine Race Democracy Lab. He has conducted extensive research on global Buddhist medicine and LGBTQ health. Jason has contributed to podcasts, essays, and ethnographic studies, focusing on the intersections of medicine, race, and religion. He aspires to pursue a career in academic medicine, emphasizing LGBTQ and immigrant health.

Evan Leslie is a cellist, arts educator, and the Director of Community Arts Programs at the University of Houston. He has led educational programs for MFA Houston, Da Camera, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. His poetry has been published in The Push and Trouble Maker Firestarter.

Lan A. Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. A historian of the body and media producer, Li contributes to podcasts and exhibitions related to acupuncture, Buddhist medicine, and metaphors in science and medicine. Li’s first book, Body Maps: Improvising Meridians and Nerves in Global Chinese Medicine (JHU Press, 2025) considers the long history of graphically representing invisible anatomy.

Winston Liaw, MD, MPH, is chair of the Health Systems and Population Health Sciences department at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. His expertise is in using geospatial techniques and community resources to address unmet social needs in primary care settings. In particular, he is an expert on the application of neighborhood deprivation indices to primary care delivery and using geospatial tools to teach population health concepts.

Emily Ma is a Rice University alum living in Houston, Texas. A lifelong artist who has published two picture books, she contributed to the MRD Lab by drawing maps of Houston’s community clinics for the Clinic Locator project.

Sujal Manohar, BS, BA is a fourth-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine. She graduated summa cum laude from Duke University with degrees in neuroscience and visual arts. As an aspiring neurologist, she aims to utilize the arts to improve patient experiences.

Steven Matijcio is the David L. Butler Executive Director of the Knoxville Museum of Art. He is the former Jane Dale Owen Director and Chief Curator, Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston.

Eana Meng is an MD-PhD student at Harvard Medical School and the Department of History of Science. She is committed to practicing integrative medicine and illuminating complementary histories of medicines utilized by historically marginalized communities.

Bill Monroe, PhD, is a teacher, writer, and scholar who founded and directed the Medicine & Society Program at the University of Houston. A Rockefeller Foundation Grant at the Institute for the Medical Humanities, UTMB-Galveston, made possible a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Thomas R. Cole, a renowned gerontologist and public historian. Primary Care developed out of that collaboration.

Virginia L. Montgomery is an experimental artist moving freely between video, performance, and sculpture as she traverses materiality, sensorial experiences, and metaphysics. Her work is feminist and latently autobiographical, creating experiences that are paradoxically both mysterious and direct. Montgomery’s surreal artworks often speak in recursive symbols—circles, holes, spheres—as she explores the relationship between archetypes and an elemental iconography of healing.

Sarat Munjuluri, MD, MS is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Tilman J Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston and is a member of Houston Playback Theatere.

Summer Nguyen, a Rice University graduate in English with a minor in Medical Humanities, works as an academic tutor in Chicago. Originally from Houston, her work focuses on untold narratives of immigrant doctors, war metaphors in healthcare, and ethical decision-making in hospitals.

Oluwapelumi Oloyede, BS is a fourth-year medical student at the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in public health. She is pursuing obstetrics and gynecology and is interested in the use of storytelling to improve patient outcomes.

Sophia Peng graduated from Rice University in 2024 with a BA in Anthropology and minor in Medical Humanities. She researched immigrant practices in Houston’s Chinatown and now teaches English in Madrid through a Fulbright grant. Sophia aims to pursue an MD/PhD in Anthropology.

Kaylah Patel is a Rice University graduate with a BA in Cognitive Computational Sciences and minors in Data Science and Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Her interests include public health and coding. Kaylah is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer who enjoys traveling with family.

Taylor Phillips is a Rice University graduate and former research lead in the Medicine Race Democracy Lab. She is currently a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania where her research focuses on medical racism, community health initiatives, and environmental health impacts. Taylor has led multiple research projects, including investigations into community clinics and critiques of discourses in social determinants of health.

Bilal Rehman is a medical student at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. He holds a BA in philosophy from Rice University and an MTS in religion, ethics, and politics from Harvard Divinity School. Bilal’s research spans the intersection of social theory and medicine.

Martha Serpas, a native of southern Louisiana, is a poet, professor, environmentalist, and hospital chaplain. She co-directs Scripts, a narrative and lyric program at Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston, where she teaches creative writing. She has published four volumes of poetry, most recently Double Effect.

Ross Shegog is a Professor of Behavioral Science at the UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston. He develops, implements, and evaluates digital behavioral change interventions to find creative solutions to improve health promotion, disease prevention, and disease management behaviors in varied populations and settings.

Aisha Siddiqui is a public health professional specializing in health equity and global disparities. As founder of Culture of Health – Advancing Together (CHAT), she works to improve health through community collaboration. Aisha pioneered using the arts to promote health, social justice, and support for immigrants and refugees.

Zuhair A. Siddiqui, MD, MPH, is a Pediatric Anesthesiologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In addition to his clinical practice, he also works to improve the health of the community through education, collaboration, and support for immigrants and refugees.

Over the last 15 years, Sarah Sudhoff’s attention to her health and body has figured prominently in her work. Sudhoff explains that “as recently as 2020, my HPV returned, and prompted me to undergo two colposcopies to gauge the severity of the infection. As a divorced, single mother of two pre-teen children, I have encountered financial challenges in accessing healthcare, relying primarily on Medicaid for care. As a stark reminder of this, in 2021, in the midst of global pandemic, the Texas legislature chose to vote, ending women’s right to choose.”  

Adarsh Suresh is a second-year medical student at McGovern Medical School. He graduated from Rice University in 2023 with a BA in Religion and Sports Medicine. Adarsh is passionate about the intersection of medicine and humanities, committed to improving patient care and emphasizing the human experience in healthcare.

Sarah Syed, MD, is an internal medicine resident at the University of Pennsylvania. As a primary care physician, aspiring clinician educator, and student of the humanities, she intends to pursue a medical education fellowship where she will further explore how and why to integrate the humanities into health education

Chris Webb, CRC, CPRP, MT-BC is a board certified music therapist and certified psychiatric rehabilitation counselor. She earned her master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Kentucky and her bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Sam Houston State University. Her expertise in music therapy and cognitive behavioral treatment approaches has been applied to a variety of populations in inpatient psychiatric care for over 10 years. Chris’ research interests include music therapy practices in psychiatry, music therapy and eating disorders, community integration and innovative practices in psychiatry and the creative arts. Chris has presented at the national United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association conference and at the Houston Eating Disorders Specialists conference. She is a member of the Gulf Coast Music Therapists, Southwest Texas Music Therapy Association, American Music Therapy Association, Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, Houston Eating Disorders Specialists and Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional music fraternity.

Katherine Wu graduated from Rice University in 2023 with a BA Neuroscience minoring in Medical Humanities and served as a Medicine, Race, Democracy Lab project lead. Her research focuses on combining ethics, storytelling, and advocacy in the medical field. She is a highly accomplished in archery.

Linda Wu is a second-year medical student at Keck School of Medicine of USC. She holds a BA in Psychology and Gender Studies from Rice University. Linda has taken on research related to racial and gender health disparities, focusing on eye care access in underserved Los Angeles communities. She enjoys volunteering at health fairs and training for running races

Alex Crow is an illustrator and graphic designer who recently graduated from the University of Houston. He has a deep passion in using the arts to serve as a vehicle in educating and entertaining people. Alex provided illustrations for Innovations in Arts and Health.