Students facilitate a poetic medicine workshop with community partners as the culmination of the HON 394 Poetry and Medicine course. The medical humanities class, offered through Barrett, The Honors College, explores the clinical applications of poetry as a complementary therapeutic intervention. (Courtesy of Rosemarie Dombrowski)
Humanities meet health care in an innovative ASU course
At Arizona State University’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, the humanities are more than just topics of study — they also become tools for connection, care and community. That philosophy is at the heart of HON 394 Poetry and Medicine, a course offered through Barrett, The Honors College, taught each fall by Rosemarie Dombrowski, the inaugural poet laureate of Phoenix and a teaching professor in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts, part of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.
Launched in fall 2019, the course reflects ASU’s commitment to integrative learning and community-engaged scholarship. Dombrowski is also the founding director of the poetic medicine nonprofit Revisionary Arts. She brings both scholarly expertise and personal experience to the classroom.
“I’ve learned how to effectively communicate with medical professionals and navigate medical environments from a humanistic perspective,” she said. “All of that led to my professional evolution as a medical humanist.”
The first half of the course introduces students to medical poetry — written by patients, caregivers and clinicians based on their lived experiences. Students read widely, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to psychiatric patients, cancer survivors, dementia caregivers and people with autism spectrum disorder. Each poem serves as a “parallel medical chart,” offering genuine insight into the emotional and psychological realities of illness and treatment.
During the second half of the semester, students shift from analysis to application. They explore “poetic medicine,” using poetry as a complementary therapeutic intervention supported by evidence-based practices.
“There’s a lot of research and planning that goes into our workshops,” she said.
Students work in small teams to design and facilitate poetry workshops for community partners such as the Opportunity Tree, Revisionary Arts, the Adult Day Club at the Dementia Care and Education Campus of Hospice of the Valley and ASU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Each workshop features thoughtfully chosen poems, guided discussion and writing exercises tailored to the needs of participants.
“Poetry isn’t just some inaccessible literary genre,” Dombrowski said. “It’s a deeply descriptive and reflective way of grappling with illness, one that encourages self-awareness, agency and self-advocacy.”
The course appeals broadly — to students in pre-med, nursing, psychology, social work, journalism, education and creative writing — all discovering new ways to communicate with medically vulnerable people and to support well-being in their future fields.
“I hope that students leave Poetry and Medicine with more humanistic and creative ways of communicating with medically vulnerable people, and an understanding of how poetry can provide insight to clinicians and result in better outcomes for patients,” said Dombrowski.
The impact extends beyond the classroom. Several alumni from the initial 2019 cohort now serve as facilitators for Revisionary Arts. Others are pursuing graduate work in learning science and narrative medicine.
“The full circle nature of it is the most rewarding aspect of teaching a class like this,” she said.
Some of the most meaningful moments come during community workshops. Whether sharing joy with dementia patients or sparking conversations among lifelong learners, students see firsthand how poetry bridges generations and experiences.
“One Osher Lifelong Learning Institute member said that the student-led poetic medicine session was the best institute class he’d ever attended,” Dombrowski said. That sense of connection lies at the core of the course.
“Poetry and Medicine is a course that resides at the intersection of health care and human care,” she added. “Whether a student is med school-bound or not, we should all care about the health outcomes of our community.”
HON 394 Poetry and Medicine will be offered again in fall 2026 through Barrett, The Honors College. Two seats are reserved for synchronous ASU Online learners, and students outside Barrett may request an override.