International Health Humanities Network Membership

Mark Gilbert is a Scottish/Canadian artist and researcher. For the past 18 years, he has worked on a number of interdisciplinary projects in the field of medicine and the visual arts (portraiture). In August last year, he earned his doctorate in the Medical Sciences Interdepartmental Area (MSIA) from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA.

His doctoral dissertation entitled The Experience of Portraiture in a Clinical Setting, employed arts-based research and narrative inquiry to systematically explore and analyze the collaborative process required to co-construct expressive works of illness, recovery and care. The study could potentially contribute valuable applications for teaching topics related to the delivery of clinical care, the nature of doctor/patient interactions and humanistic traditions in healthcare.

His doctoral research built upon two previous research projects where I collaborated with clinical medicine as an artist and researcher. These projects were entitled Saving Faces (UK) and Portraits of Care (USA)(www.markgilbert.co.uk).