For Columbia’s Narrative Medicine (NMED) program, community is not an afterthought—it is central to the curriculum. Through signature event series like the Volvox Alumni Speakers Series and monthly Narrative Medicine Rounds, students and alumni gather not only to learn but to connect, collaborate, and imagine new creative possibilities for their work across a broad range of fields. These programs reflect a core belief of narrative medicine: stories, like people, are powerful not only in creative fields but also in health care.
The image that guides this spirit is the volvox. As Rita Charon, the visionary cofounder of the field of narrative medicine with Columbia University humanities scholars and clinicians, has explained, the volvox was the first unicellular organism to recognize that living in multicellular colonies was “more powerful, more economical, more helpful toward survival, and maybe more fun” than existing alone. The NMED program adopted the volvox as an icon of teamwork and transdisciplinary scholarship—the “many working as one.”
In that spirit, Volvox, a monthly alumni speaker and networking series hosted by NMED alum Cherie Henderson, Ph.D. ('14SPS), was established. Designed as a gathering space for students, alumni, and faculty, Volvox showcases graduates who are applying their NMED education in innovative and unexpected ways. Sessions have featured health care professionals integrating narrative practices into clinical education, authors exploring patient experience and social justice, and other practitioners working at the intersections of health care and the arts.
Volvox functions not only as a lecture series but also as a professional network. It is where students can see concrete examples of what their degrees might make possible and where alumni engage with the community not only to share accomplishments but also to reflect on challenges, career pivots, and the evolving demands of their fields. For many attendees, the value lies in the chance to ask how narrative methods translate into grant writing, nonprofit leadership, patient advocacy, or community programming, among other topics.
Complementing the alumni-focused Volvox series are the monthly Narrative Medicine Rounds, hosted by the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Held on the first Wednesday of each month during the academic year, the Rounds bring an impressive lineup of scholars, clinicians, writers, and artists into conversation with the NMED community.
The 2025 lineup of guests demonstrated the scope of the series. Guests included MacArthur Fellow Dinaw Mengestu, whose work explores migration, displacement, and belonging; novelist and essayist Lidia Yuknavitch, known for her boundary-pushing writing on embodiment and trauma; and writer Garth Greenwell, whose fiction probes intimacy and moral complexity. Clinician and health journalist Jennifer Natalya Fink offered perspectives on medical storytelling and public health communication, while neuroscientist and bestselling author Daniel Levitin illuminated the cognitive dimensions of narrative and meaning-making.
These speakers do more than read from their latest books. They engage with questions that sit at the heart of nonprofit and health-related work: How do stories shape policy? How can narrative restore dignity in clinical encounters? What responsibilities do writers and practitioners carry when telling the stories of others?
For students in the NMED program, these opportunities are especially valuable. Exposure to various applications of narrative medicine deepens their capacity to listen, interpret complex human experiences, and communicate with empathy. Whether drafting a fundraising appeal, designing a community program, writing an article about a health care experience, or advocating for policy change, the ability to understand and convey lived experience is central to effective leadership.
The events extend beyond lecture halls and into New York City’s greatest cultural institutions. Programs such as the Narrative Eye Series—guided visits to The Metropolitan Museum of Art led by NMED lecturer and former museum educator at the Met, Rika Burnham—invite participants to practice close observation and collective interpretation in front of works of art. These sessions reinforce the NMED program’s core competencies: attention, representation, and affiliation. In both museums and clinical settings, careful observation and shared reflection build trust and insight.
Together, Volvox, Narrative Medicine Rounds, and other NMED programs and workshops cultivate a community of thinkers and practitioners who recognize the importance of narrative medicine across sectors. Students gain access to mentors and leaders, alumni maintain ties to a vibrant intellectual community, and faculty and visiting speakers expand the conversation beyond disciplinary boundaries.
In a time when nonprofit and health professionals confront burnout, fragmentation, and rapid social change, these spaces matter. They offer not only knowledge, but belonging. They remind participants that narrative is not a solitary endeavor—it is a collective practice. And like the ancient volvox, the Columbia community continues to demonstrate that working together is not only more powerful, but perhaps also more sustaining, and even more joyful.
Explore and register for upcoming NMED program events here.
About the Program
Columbia University’s Master of Science in Narrative Medicine prepares health professionals, writers, and scholars to apply the skills and values of narrative understanding to improve outcomes for both patients and caregivers. It offers a rigorous and in-depth study of close reading of creative texts, illness and disability narratives, narrative ethics, philosophy, creative writing, and other perspectives. The master’s program is available for part-time or full-time enrollment. Learn more here.