Rita Charon (Founding Chair, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Columbia University) joins us from New York City and reflects on the origins of narrative medicine as one of the field’s founders.

She tells the story of the field’s development over time into the internationally significant area of thought and practice that it is today. Rita also considers the key questions facing the future of the field and shares news about some exciting current projects that are taking narrative medicine still farther afield.

Her research investigates narrative medicine training, reflective practice, health care justice, and health care team effectiveness and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). She delivered the Jefferson Lecture in 2018, the highest academic distinction awarded by the NEH.

Rita authored Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness (Oxford UP, 2006) and co-authored The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine (Oxford UP, 2016). She lectures and teaches internationally and is regularly published in leading medical and literary journals.

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