Members of the NBM Lab community gathered for a special, in-person celebration on Wednesday, September 27 at the Art Gallery of Ontario for an evening filled with connection and creativity.

The evening began with reflections from Patricia Houston, Vice Dean, Medical Education, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, on the evolution of Narrative-Based Medicine programming in Continuing Professional Development, as well as the Lab’s wider contribution to health humanities training in medical education.

NBM Creative Lead, Damian Tarnopolsky, shared the history and impact of the Lab’s programming. Karen Gold, NBM Curriculum Lead, spoke about the Lab’s future directions and introduced our fall offerings.

Attendees also got to experience the discussion and reflection that takes place in our offerings. Alums of our Foundational Certificate, Amita Dayal and Conor McDonnell, delivered powerful readings of recent creative work that encouraged us all to think about our relationship to feelings of loss, grief, and resilience.

Eva-Marie Stern, co-lead of our Introduction to Visual Narrative workshop earlier this year, guided attendees through a close looking exercise of a painting in the room. Examining Jim Bourke’s Tulips #2 (encaustic on canvas), Stern illuminated how focusing on an artwork’s form can reveal much more than content alone — and how this resonates with patient encounters.

We want to thank everyone involved for making this a truly memorable event. Re-live moments from the evening in our photo gallery.