UGME art show contributors and guests,
This has been quite a year. This marks our second remote art show, and soon our second remote graduation. It has been a year of more emotions than we are accustomed to. Hope tripped up by continual bad news. We have seen many words added to our lexicon, Zoom, spike protein, mRNA vaccine, unsubstantiated and QAnon. Not only do we have a pandemic, but distrust in Medicine and Science are the worst I have seen. Politics has become divisive and nastier. Problems like poverty and addiction seem to have been magnified. Its hard not to lose hope. Medical school is intense enough in normal times.
Through art and music, we are able to explore, express and modulate our emotions. None of us can pursue medicine at all times. Some of you have chosen to share your talents with us. Many of these talents take years of dedication and great thought. Thank you for your contribution to school, in trying to make our days a little better. There is a vaccinated future where we will meet again in the atrium, this year’s show will help us with that wait.
When it snowed in early April, as cases were peaking, it seemed an apocalyptic metaphor. But now, we can spot buds on trees, a symbol of hope and renewal. A light at the end of the tunnel (or as the endoscopists say “a tunnel at the end of every light”).
Ira Ripstein, M.D.
Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education
Max Rady College of Medicine