Healthcare is Human

Since 2020, Healthcare is Human (HIH) has been telling authentic healthcare stories.

Dr. Ryan McCarthy created HIH in Martinsburg, WV, to give voice to individuals who were under-represented as the Covid-19 pandemic began. Since then, HIH has grown exponentially and is now a complex narrative medicine initiative. Writer, poet, and narrative medicine expert Renée K. Nicholson co-hosts the podcast.

Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV, photographer on the project, has captured hundred of images of healthcare workers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Visit HIH on Facebook and Instagram to see these incredible photos . Molly's world class portfolio can be found by searching for Piccadilly Posh.

Kym Mattioli produces the podcast.

HIH is supported by grants from the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Foundation, and generous donors across West Virginia.

Our first exhibit "Wild, Wonderful and Brave: Fighting the Pandemic in the Eastern Panhandle" ran at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA, from June 2022-June 2023.

Our most recent exhibit was in the Pylons Commons at the Robert C. Byrd Health Science Center in Morgantown, WV, feom September 2023 through June 2024. Dozens of the best photographs were featured alongside poetry by Marc Harshman, Torli Bush, Renée K. Nicholson, and Randi Ward. Our companion film, HEALTHCARE IS HUMAN, directed by Corwyn “Cory” Garman, can be viewed inside the William A. Neal Museum.

Original music for our films and museum exhibitions is composed by Robert Sears and Jared Sims. Isaac McCarthy plays the banjo on the podcast.

Healthcare is Human has been featured in 100 Days in Appalachia, West Virginia Public Radio, Synapsis, INSider, KevinMD, and the Gold Foundation.

A book is in development as is HIH curricula at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. HIH is a signature program of the WVU Internal Medicine Residency at the Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, WV.

Find us on TED.com to hear our origin story.

Contributors

Host

Ryan McCarthy MD

Dr. McCarthy is an associate professor of internal medicine at West Virginia University (WVU) and practices primary care internal medicine in his hometown of Martinsburg, WV. He is the creator of Healthcare is Human and the program director of the WVU Internal Medicine Residency at the Berkeley Medical Center.

Dr. McCarthy enjoys writing about healthcare and has been a regular contributor to 100 Days in Appalachia and KevinMD.

Happily married with three children, he enjoys art, music, history, cooking, and cheering for the WVU Mountaineers. Ryan can often be found running with his dog, Trixie. He loves a good story and--even better--a good joke.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-mccarthy-2349012ab/

Co-host

Renée K. Nicholson MFA

Renée Nicholson is a celebrated writer and expert in narrative medicine. She is the author of the memoir Fierce and Delicate: Essays on Dance and Illness, and a collection of poetry, Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center. She is also co-editor of the award-winning anthology Bodies of Truth: Personal Narratives of Illness, Disability, and Medicine, and a consulting writer for Off Belay: One Last Great Adventure.

Her creative writing and her scholarship have appeared in over a hundred magazines, journals, including Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, where Nicholson serves as a contributing writer.

Nicholson earned her MFA in Creative Writing from West Virginia University, a BA degree in English/Creating Writing from Butler University, and a Certificate in Narrative Medicine from the Program for Narrative Medicine at Columbia University.

https://reneeknicholson.substack.com/

http://reneenicholson.com/