Art, Healing, and Innovation in Barcelona at AMEE 2025
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Over 4,000 health professions educators from every continent except Antarctica gathered in Barcelona, Spain in August for the AMEE 2025 conference (The International Association for Health Professions Education Ltd). The atmosphere was lively and full of inspiration, as people came together from around the world in this beautiful coastal city.
Key Themes
The conference addressed a range of significant themes in medical education, including the integration of AI into training and clinical care, the advancement of interprofessional education, and professional identity formation for medical trainees. These topics were explored through engaging keynote speeches delivered by experts from the Netherlands, the United States, and Africa. The humanities also featured prominently, represented by its own dedicated track among the 14 educational themes, which included numerous workshops, symposia, and poster presentations illustrating the vital role of the humanities in medical education.
Our Presentation
AMEE Poster, Dominique and Brooke
My colleague Dominique Harz and I presented a poster as part of a session entitled, The Art and Soul of Healing: Integrating Humanities, Empathy and Innovation in Health Professions Education. We highlighted our research project, Beyond Observation: Uncovering the Long-Term Impact of Art in Medical Education, which investigated the lasting effects of visual arts exposure on clinicians who had participated in a museum-based elective during medical school five to ten years earlier. Together with project collaborators Truelian Yu, Stephanie Cohen, Ruby Guo, Shahram Khoshbin, Ingrid Ganske, and Joel T. Katz, we are now working toward publication on this work, but we were delighted to share our findings at this international forum.
AMEE Presentation, Dominique and Brooke
Combining Art and Healing
Set in a city celebrated for its artistic legacy, including museums dedicated to Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, our visit began with a Flamenco dance at the conference's opening ceremony and concluded with a tour of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Flamenco Dancers at AMEE Opening Event
Sant Pau beautifully merged healthcare, art, and nature across its expansive grounds. It served as a hospital from 1916 to 2009 and was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1997, the campus is comprised of 12 pavilions, each devoted to a medical area. Notable structures include the Operations House, the Sant Rafael Pavilion—a former nursing facility—and the Administration Pavilion. All the buildings are linked by underground tunnels and surrounded by serene, contemplative gardens above ground. The exterior features intricately patterned tile roofs and mosaics created by Italian artist Mario Maragliano Navone, that narrate the history of hospitals in Spain, including the creation of Sant Pau. Inside, patients and now visitors to this site encounter tile work with nature-inspired motifs, adding to the sense of healing and tranquility.
Sant Pau Art Nouveau
Mosaic at Sant Pau
Looking Ahead
We are looking forward to joining the AMEE community again in November, when Dominique and I will lead a webinar on how the visual arts can help shape medical education. As we get ready to present these ideas and learn from new colleagues around the world again, we are inspired and excited about the expanding role of the arts in healthcare education.