Synopsis

In 2023, Dr Mariam Tokhi and Dr Fiona Reilly launched Australia’s first Narrative Medicine course at the University of Melbourne, teaching medical students. In this Grand Round, they will share the vision they have for integrating Narrative Medicine skills into the worlds of university education as well as community and hospital medicine.

Speakers

Dr Fiona Reilly is a writer and Emergency Physician at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and collaborator in paediatric emergency medicine initiatives in China and Pakistan. She has a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, completed a certification in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, and is currently completing a PhD in Narrative Medicine. As a narrative medicine practitioner in her day-to-day work in the Emergency Department, Fiona believes it’s essential that health professionals hone their skills in close listening, empathy, and reflection to engage meaningfully with their patients, and bring joy and purpose to their work.

Dr Mariam Tokhi leads the Narrative Medicine teaching of medical students in the Discovery programme at the University of Melbourne. She is a GP working in refugee health in Melbourne’s West and has spent the past decade working in, thinking and writing about community health. How do we provide good, accessible care for those who need it the most? How do we engage with the stories of our patients? How do we give clinicians skills in storytelling for advocacy, reflection, leadership and wellbeing? Mariam completed her Masters of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and gained certification in Narrative Medicine through a course at Columbia University. She often writes, reflects and advocates about primary care in the ‘deep end’, intersectional feminism and vulnerable communities. Mariam loves seeing medical students, health workers and educators ask creative questions, dream outside the traditional bio-medical boxes, and engage with the beauty and challenges of caring, medicine, and life.