July 2009 | Back to Table of Contents

Cover Story

The Physician and the Pen

Winners of our sixth annual writing contest share the stories they cannot forget.

Practicing medicine is a dance with drama. With each day come brushes with the unexpected, the unpredictable, and the unforgettable—witnessing a birth or death or meeting a patient whose problems cannot be helped by medicine alone.

These encounters can help us grow and change. But to learn from them, they need to be placed in context, their meaning understood. Physicians often do this by writing about the patients whose stories hang around long after they leave the exam room or the doubts that linger after decisions are made.

Each year, Minnesota Medicine invites physicians and medical students to submit their stories and poems in our Medical Musings writing contest. This year, we received many excellent entries, a number of which we hope to share with you during the coming year. Our winners are Therese Zink, M.D., M.P.H., in the physician category and Rebecca Stepan in the medical student category. We also want to recognize the following physicians whose entries we felt merited honorable mention: Nancy J. Baker, M.D., Christie Gove Berg, M.D., Lisa Freitag, M.D., and Jack E. Hubbard, M.D. We plan to publish their works in upcoming issues.

Thanks to all who participated in this year’s contest and to the members of the Minnesota Medicine advisory committee who served as judges.

Winning Student Entry

Gone, but Not Forgotten

By Rebecca Stepan

Winning Physician Entry

On the Navajo Reservation

By Therese Zink, M.D., M.P.H.