February 18, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., -- A musical parody of the trials and tribulations of medical school has taken first prize in the University of Alabama School of Medicine’s (UASOM) 2003 Student Art Show. S. Taylor Williams, a fourth-year medical student, penned her own lyrics to familiar tunes and then recorded the 10 songs on a CD. Her work, “Songs in the Key of Medical School” pokes gentle fun at medical education in such songs as “The Twelve Cranial Nerves of Christmas”, (The Twelve Days of Christmas); “I am the Very Model of a Diuretic”, (I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General) and “What Cranial Nerve is This?”, (Greensleeves).
The art show, presented by the Alabama chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor society for medical schools, is co-sponsored by the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences. It runs from Feb. 28 to May 30 in the museum on the third floor of the Lister Hill Library, 1700 University Blvd. An awards ceremony and reception will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 28.
This is the third year for the show, which drew 53 entries. The entries were judged by a panel of UAB students, faculty, staff and supporters. The top three winners will receive cash prizes and all entries will be on display in the museum.
“It is important to balance medical students’ scientific and medical education with exposure to the arts and humanities,” says Stephen R. Smith, Ph.D., director of student life for the medical school. “The physicians we train here must be able to interact on many different levels with their patients, and this art show provides a means for them to creatively explore and express their own humanity. We think this will help them to connect with all people on a basic human level.”
Williams also won second place with an acrylic and ink painting on plywood called “Schizophrenia Triptych.” Third place went to first-year student Lorie Glover Dawson for a photograph titled “Afternoon.”
Also receiving recognition as Juror’s Choice awards were first-year student Kim Edge’s ink self portrait; an untitled chalk drawing by Mary Boyd Barfield, a third-year student; Glover Dawson’s black and white photograph “Old Bryce Hospital II”; and second-year student Ben Stronach’s plaster “Undertow.”
The judges for the competition were Brett Levine, director of the UAB Visual Arts Gallery; Shannon Andrews, art director at ValueCentric Marketing Group, Inc.; Marla Hawkins, AOA vice president and a fourth-year medical student; and Stefanie Rookis, curator of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences.