Aug. 17, 2022 — In addition to looking forward to a career of using her hands as a surgeon, recent UF medical school graduate Arianne Maya, M.D. ’22, is hands on when it comes to some of her hobbies — she grew up enjoying painting and now photographs scenes that spark her interest.

Maya is the co-editor-in-chief of the first issue of Chapman Art and Literary Magazine, or CALM, a project started by a committee she formed at the Chapman Society, the UF College of Medicine’s chapter of the national Gold Humanism Honor Society. CALM’s other co-editors include 2022 medical school graduates Catherine Elko, Amber Henry and Hansol Kang. CALM is now available to read online as a viewable PDF.

Maya said she had the idea to create a literary magazine after realizing through a class assignment the level of talent among her peers.

“During our internal medicine clerkship, we were required to write reflections and share them with one another,” she said. “I found them incredibly inspiring, and I was impressed by everyone’s writing talent.”

When a call for submissions was sent out this past winter, Maya was surprised and excited to receive more than 100 submissions, about double what she had anticipated.

“I thought it was great and that it really showed this is something people want,” she said.

Chapman Society Faculty Board President Samuel Dickmann, M.D., a community physician at UF Health Family Medicine — Jonesville and a College of Medicine assistant professor, said he was excited when he heard the students decided to take on the project of creating the literary magazine.

“It’s really a reflection of the clinicians’ experiences, and that’s what makes it so valuable to us and to our patients,” he said. “It gives the clinicians an outlet to express and process the emotions and thoughts that we can’t always express in the clinical setting, and it provides patients a window into the other side of medicine.”

One of the poems featured in CALM is “In Chains,” written by third-year medical student AJ Winer.

The poem is inspired from his experience treating an incarcerated patient during a medical rotation.

“Writing has given me that skill of trying to better grasp what I’m feeling and to understand it,” Winer said. “It’s very cathartic. It can really help with bringing some light out of the darkness and some hope out of whatever disparity or despair there is around.”

Copies of CALM are available to read in print at UF Health Shands Hospital lobby and online as a viewable PDF.

Maya said the literary magazine is made for both health care providers and their patients to enjoy.

“On one hand, we hope it provides the College of Medicine community with comfort. The content ranges from cheerful pieces to things that are a little more serious,” she said. “I also hope it gives patients who read it a better understanding of the people who are taking care of them.”

For any questions or comments, please email chapmansocietyuf@gmail.com.