Medical Humanities and Arts

PLEXUS is a student-organized publication that showcases creative work by medical students, physicians, faculty, patients, and others in the medical community. Through the universal language of art, the journal aspires to connect those who seek to heal and to be healed.

This year, we are excited to celebrate the 20th edition of Plexus. To commemorate this milestone, we chose the theme of “Reflections” to encourage introspection on an often long but rewarding journey through the path of medicine. We feel so privileged to be a part of an incredible field with a unique legacy, allowing us to reflect on our past heritage and future legacy. While the journal submission and publication process is run by medical students, we believe that the medical humanities is a creative space open to everyone in the medical community. In keeping with last year, we continued to include wonderful submissions from students in the UCI School of Nursing, as well as graduate students from the biological sciences. Every year we are amazed by the emotions, reflections, stories, richness, and creativity of the submissions. We thank all of our submitters for their time and thought. Additionally, please find our performing arts pieces on our website, www.uciplexus.org. Previous publications and submissions are also available online.

A huge heartfelt thanks to our amazing editors, staff, and faculty for their support in making this special 20th edition possible. We would like to give special thanks to our faculty advisors Dr. Johanna Shapiro and Dr. Tan Nguyen, and Dr. Ellena Peterson (Associate Dean of Admissions & Outreach) – this journal would not have been possible without their continuous support and guidance. We hope you enjoy PLEXUS 2019 – Reflections.

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Shreya Aiyar, Yvonne Lu, Priyanka Sharma

Design Chair: May Hui,

Design Team: Ruchi Desai, Tammy Tran

Performing Arts Chair: Janani Prasad

Creative Writing Chair: Malcolm Crawford

Social Media/Community Outreach Chair: Tammy Tran

Winners of the PLEXUS medical student competitions were made possible by the Program in Medical Humanities & Arts. Congratulations to this year’s winners:

Writing:

1st: Nazin Sedehi (MS3) “An Ode to My Bed”

2nd: Olivia Tsai (MS2) “Encounter”

3rd: Inbal Epstein (MS3) “Dr. Pyre”

Visual:

1st: Thalia Nguyen (MS3) “What Will My Reflection Show?”

2nd: Michael Niechayev (MS4) “Little Del Mar”

3rd: Sarah O’Dell (MS2) “Axonal Threads”

Performing Arts

1st: Matthew Sanford (Patient Account Rep, SBO, Medical Center) “First Takes 091818”

2nd: Alex Miner (Resident physician) “Don’t Stop Kicking Mommy”

3rd: Jeremy Martin and Nathan Calixto (MS4s) “Two German Songs: Widmung (Dedication) and Auf dem Flusse (On the River)”