The medicine of the future cannot do without stories.
With this conviction, The Doctor as a Humanist (DASH) was born, an international organization that brings together doctors, students, researchers, and artists around a single idea: care is not complete if it ignores the human dimension.
Founded by Jonathan McFarland, a scholar and teacher of Medical Humanities, the network promotes a different way of training, thinking, and practicing medicine—where science interacts with words, art, and ethics.
A Bridge Between Disciplines and People
Since its first symposium in 2017, “Can the Humanities Transform 21st Century Medicine?”, DASH has become an international reference point for those aiming to bring listening and reflection back to the heart of healthcare practice.
Today, the group collaborates with universities and research centers across several countries, including Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and I.M. Sechenov First Medical University in Moscow.
In these contexts, McFarland—who teaches medical communication and academic writing—has developed courses and workshops focused on narrative, poetry, critical reading, and visual arts as educational tools for students and healthcare professionals.
His goal, shared with the DASH community, is to train humanist doctors capable of recognizing the person before the patient.
Educating Through the Humanities
DASH’s educational activities are based on a simple principle: clinical competence and human sensitivity must develop together.
In the courses, students are invited to read illness narratives, write reflective texts, watch films, or analyze artworks related to care.
In this way, they learn to make sense of their own experiences, understand patients’ emotions, and communicate more authentically.
Many projects emerge from these courses, such as narrative poster exhibitions, poetry and medicine workshops, and shared writing sessions between healthcare professionals and artists.
Each activity becomes a moment of personal and professional growth, a way to make room, in clinical practice, for the most fragile and vital aspects of being human.
Research: Stories, Science, and Quality of Care
Alongside teaching, The Doctor as a Humanist promotes extensive international research.
Areas of interest include narrative medicine, doctor-patient communication, and ecological health humanities, which connect individual health with community and environmental wellbeing.
Among its most significant publications is the volume Health Humanities for Quality of Care in Times of COVID-19 (Springer, 2022), edited by Jonathan McFarland and Maria Giulia Marini, which analyzes how narratives helped healthcare providers and patients make sense of the pandemic.
McFarland has also contributed essays and articles on Medical Humanities in international journals, advocating for the importance of stories in clinical training and in building a more ethical and participatory healthcare culture.
Humanizing Care Through Words
For DASH, narrative medicine is not a literary exercise but an act of responsibility.
Writing, reading, telling stories: these are actions that allow caregivers to maintain their humanity and better understand those who entrust themselves to their care.
Through symposia such as Humanism in Surgery and The Ecological Dimension in Medical Humanities, the group explores how narrative can transform not only the way care is delivered but also the way the medical profession is experienced.
The testimonies collected over time show that narrative medicine does not only improve the patient relationship, but also nurtures those who care, providing spaces for reflection and resilience for healthcare professionals.
A Network Giving Voice to Human-Centered Medicine
Today, The Doctor as a Humanist represents a vibrant and expanding community.
Every meeting, course, and project fosters an international dialogue that transcends geographical and disciplinary boundaries.
The work of the group and of Jonathan McFarland demonstrates that combining science and narrative is not a luxury, but a necessity to restore meaning and depth to care. Medicine must return to speaking the language of people; only then can it continue to be a science of life, not merely of the body.
Through its network of teachers, doctors, and researchers, DASH contributes to building a new healthcare culture based on listening, reflection, and respect for human experience.
From this perspective, narrative medicine becomes a tool for knowledge and transformation: a way to mend the bond between caregiver and patient.
The commitment of Jonathan McFarland and his group is not to add “humanity” to medicine, but to remind us that humanity is medicine—and that every story told with sincerity can transform into understanding and relief.