A Note from the Editors

Dear Readers,

Welcome to The Lumen! We are so excited to welcome you to this inaugural issue of the art & literary magazine of the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. 

The Lumen is an initiative of the Medical Humanities Club, which was itself born from the longstanding History of Medicine Club. At the Medical Humanities Club, we focus on bringing the arts and humanities—ranging from history, literature, and the social sciences to art and music—into conversation with our medical education. We do this through regular student-led research seminars, social events, and now, through The Lumen. 

As editors, we come to The Lumen from diverse backgrounds. What we all have in common, however, is a sense that the humanities are not separate from, nor are they simply ancillaries, to medicine. Through a variety of experiences, ranging from academic to personal, we at the Medical Humanities Club have come to believe that a generative engagement with the arts and humanities is central, if not vital, to our current training and future practice of medicine. Through this engagement, we hope to enhance our empathy, our ability to listen and understand, our narrative and visual literacy, and our ability to care for our patients as full human beings.

The Lumen was born from this very conviction, and from our efforts as students to fill a void we sensed in our medical education and in our community.

In medicine and biology, a lumen, as our colleagues very well know, is the innermost part of something. A lumen may house blood or bile, may carry or absorb, may empty and fill. We at the Medical Humanities Club and The Lumen editorial board see the arts and humanities as occupying a central, luminal position in the world of medicine. 

Thus The Lumen offers us a central space: to come together, to share, and to create. We hope The Lumen serves as a vessel to carry and illuminate the various experiences, perspectives, and creative expressions our community has to offer, and to reaffirm the value of the arts and humanities in our field.

We humbly welcome you to our inaugural issue. We encourage you to submit your own work to future editions and to check out our website at www.lumenmag.org. Please reach out to us at medhumanitiesclub@gmail.com with any feedback or thoughts—we’d love to hear from you!

We are infinitely grateful to our contributors, without whom this volume would not have been possible. We are thankful for the support we’ve received from our mentors, professors, donors, and College—to Drs. Matus and Hussain, our advisors, and to Dean Cooper for his generous and unwavering support.

The Lumen Editorial Board

Hedyeh Elahinia, MS3

Kate Girdhar, MS3

David Chu, MS2

Harsh Agrawal, MS2