MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS
 Claudia Muñoz came to medical school at Case holding an undergraduate degree in international relations from Stanford University and a master’s of public health degree from Tulane University. To top it off, she had eight years of experience as a professional dancer.
Justin Uhl came to Case with an undergraduate degree in molecular genetics from Ohio State University, where he participated in Men’s Glee Club and another ensemble.
Both have found the School of Medicine’s Artists in Medicine (AiM) a means to express their creative sides. Each year, AiM organizes an event to showcase the talents of students with the help of faculty, staff, and alumni of the medical school.
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| Artists indeed: AiM organizers David Jackowe, Justin Uhl, Claudia Muñoz, and Zach Gordon in the medical school’s student lounge among the assorted visual art; below, students perform at the Barking Spider. |
It was not an accident that both Ms. Muñoz and Mr. Uhl, and others, ended up enrolling in a medical school that nurtures both their artistic and academic sides.
“All of us are here at Case because we’re more than just a number, we’re more than just Medical College Admissions Test scores, more than just grade-point averages,” says Ms. Muñoz, a second-year student, who plans to specialize in infectious diseases or neurology. She adds that her interest in Case’s medical school was captured by the school’s admissions brochure, which recognized medicine as an art as well as a science. “I’m from California,” she says. “I thought, ‘Why would I look at an Ohio school? It’d be so far from home.’ But that brochure really caught my attention because, having been in the professional world, I know that it’s such a blend of creativity and science and personality.”
Mr. Uhl, a second-year student and a native Northeast Ohioan, agrees. “We’re immersed in science all the time, but we all have outside interests and creative interests that we pursued until we got to med school,” he says. “This is one of the few schools I’ve seen that has an outlet for us to show that throughout the school year.” Mr. Uhl notes that, in addition to the AiM show, typically held in December, every spring brings another artistic opportunity for medical students–the annual Doc Opera. This show of skits and song and dance numbers parodies their medical school experience.
Ms. Muñoz believes that AiM started small and informally as students displayed their works in someone’s home. Then students moved the show to the student lounge at the medical school. In 2003, students split the event into two parts, a weeklong exhibition of painting, photography, pottery, and sculpture in the student lounge, and a two-hour program featuring vocal and musical talent at an establishment near campus.
 In 2004, admission remained free, but donations were accepted for medically related causes. Ms. Muñoz, Mr. Uhl, and medical students David Jackowe and Zach Gordon organized the most recent event.
“It’s really empowering to just be able to put yourself out there,” explains Ms. Muñoz. “I sang [in 2003] for the first time in my life, and it was just so wonderful.”
It’s also a way for students to see another side of their peers, she says. “There’s some amazing talent that people bring, and you forget that because you get so embedded in what we’re doing in class.”
Mr. Uhl, who plans to specialize in pediatrics, adds, “It gives you perspective on what we’re going through right now. We’re trying to become physicians, but we’re trying to maintain the rest of our humanity as well.” 
LOIS A. BOWERS
Photograph by John Gerard Quinn
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