Looking Back on the First Year of the Neurohumanities Network: An Online, Trainee-led, Transdisciplinary Collaboration at the Intersection of the Arts, Humanities, and Neurosciences
Devika Naphade1, Aye Thant2, Rida Farhan3, Tatiana Greige4, Charles Palmer1, Michael Stanley5, Mattia Rosso6, Galina Gheihman7
1Medical University of South Carolina, 2Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, 3Carilion Clinic - Virginia Tech Carilion SOM, 4MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Portland, 5Tufts Medical Center, 6Yale School of Medicine, 7Mass General Brigham & Harvard Medical School
Objective:
To evaluate the reach and impact of the first year of programming of the Neurohumanities Network.
Background:
Neurohumanities is an emerging transdisciplinary field, which explores the intersection of the arts, humanities, and neurosciences. A growing interest in this topic is reflected in the formation of the Neurohumanities Synapse community and the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee in the American Academy of Neurology. While individual residency programs offer humanities programming, not all trainees and faculty interested in the field have access to a formal curriculum. The Neurohumanities Network (NHN), an online, trainee-driven, cross-institutional, transdisciplinary and global community has strived to address this gap.
Design/Methods:
NHN offers a core curriculum of monthly virtual seminars from diverse speakers including clinical neurologists, neuroscientists, patients, artists, and humanists. Seminar topics have included music and brain medicine, the neuropsychology of comics, mime and Parkinson’s disease and more. Quarterly booster sessions encourage live interaction and hands-on practice of the arts and humanities. Network engagement is supported by social media posts, creative contests, a newsletter, and a website. We share evaluation data from September 2024-2025 in the form of event registration and results of post-seminar surveys.
Results:
An average of 52 participants register for monthly sessions (range 14–120). Over 14 months, we received 68 survey responses from members representing 46 unique institutions across more than seven countries. Participants reported a very high likelihood of recommending NHN sessions to others (mean = 9.3/10) and a high likelihood of applying what they learned in their own practice or profession (mean = 8/10). Participants learned about the NHN through colleagues, friends, the newsletter, and social media.
Conclusions:
By examining the role of the arts and humanities in neurosciences and neurology, our virtual network addresses an unmet need in neurology training. The NHN broadens access to both neurology and humanities and promotes cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration.
Disclaimer: Abstracts were not reviewed by Neurology® and do not reflect the views of Neurology® editors or staff.