Fall H3 Scholars Explore the Power of Culture, Language and Stories in Care

The fall semester brings the second pair of students in the Health Humanities Hub Interdisciplinary Scholars program, with each developing their own unique ways to unite studies in the humanities and health. 

For Mykelti Nuamah, his first three years at the University of Arizona were focused on his major in Physiology and Medical Sciences. Then his advisor mentioned the new Religious Studies for Health Professionals major and his reaction was “where has this been the whole time?” 

“We know the humanities and medicine are very interconnected but before she mentioned it, it never clicked in my head that this is something that could pursue,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in the interdisciplinary nature of life in general and this is exactly what I was looking for. Having the humanities aspect tied in is the icing on the cake and it unlocked something more for me. Having this humanities background is reminding me of the importance of the human aspect of medicine.” 

In contrast to Nuamah, Eli Marion has had one foot in the humanities and one in the sciences for quite some time. His mother grew up speaking Spanish at home and Marion himself went to a dual-language immersion elementary school, developing bilingual skills and becoming more interested in the study of language. 

He entered the University of Arizona as a major in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science and minor in Spanish, but ended up switching his major and minor, and adding a minor in Biochemistry, focusing on pre-med courses while sharpening his language skills the point he could serve as a Spanish medical interpreter in clinical environments and provide patient advocacy at Flying Samaritans clinics in Agua Prieta, Mexico.

Marion’s honors thesis, working with Regents Professor Sonia Colina in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, examines Spanish medical interpretation in the live consecutive mode to assess the current capabilities of AI language models. 

“My goal is to be able to serve patients directly in their most proficient language,” he said. “Going forward, how can this relatively new technology be improved to be a more comprehensive and effective solution?” 

One highlight of Nuamah and Marion’s internship was a multi-day Forum Theater training and public performance exploring scenes of health and care, organized by Aurelia Mouzet, Associate Professor of French. That experience contributed heavily to their main project for the semester: developing a curriculum to introduce health humanities concepts to high school students in the Pima County Joint Technical Education District (JTED) Health Professions program. Alongside Forum Theater scenes, the curriculum featured a film screening, an expressive writing exercise called the Three-Minute Mental Makeover, and in-depth discussion with the JTED Community Health and Wellness students about ethically complex care situations involving confidentiality, consent, trust and rapport.

Another ongoing project is launching the Health Humanities Collective, a student club for anyone whose personal or academic interests intersect with both the humanities and healthcare. 

"If I had this my freshman year, I would’ve been more confident in the things I’m doing for my future. Having people with similar shared goals is huge," Nuamah said. “We all want to become the best doctors we can be and I know we’re not the only people interested in health humanities. Once we have the foundation, I think it can be much bigger on campus and bring people out of the woodwork."

Marion said one of his main interests going into the internship was language access and cultural fluency in the practice of medicine. Throughout the semester, he’s been working on identifying as many language access resources as he can find in the medical and medical education realms. 

“So far what I’ve found is very minimal and somewhat focused on patients, or at the organizational level there are guidelines you can use, but there’s nothing to bridge that gap,” Marion said. “There’s not much covered in medical education on the proper use of medical interpreters, or different kinds of medical interpretation. We need to add to the training information on how to work with interpreters, how to be cognizant of cultural and religious practices and customs. Medical students are practicing the patient encounter, but without a huge piece of the patient encounter.”  

Nuamah said he’s excited to be among the first four H3 Interdisciplinary Scholars because they can each begin building more of an emphasis on the intersection of humanities and health. 

"There are numbers and statistics on the science side, but when you bring the humanities, it gets more introspective and more nuanced,” Nuamah said. “Patient care is not just about what we see in the office. If we want better outcomes we have to know the human story behind every health decision."