Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognise… the true poetry of life.”
Sir William Osler (1849-1919), in an address to medical students.
Corpus is a forum for conversations about medicine and life. We publish a range of perspectives on health and health care, especially reflective or creative work which fleshes out the biomedical version of illness and disability.
Corpus is co-edited by University of Otago historian Professor Barbara Brookes and writer Sue Wootton.
Barbara Brookes
Barbara Brookes is Professor of History at the University of Otago. She has a research interest in the History of Medicine and has published on the history of women doctors, health education film, and the history of mental illness. Barbara teaches a third year course on the social history of medicine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She also co-founded, with Emeritus Professor Charlotte Paul, the Medical Humanities Selectives Programme for third year medical students in 1997. Barbara is currently working on a book entitled Performing Medicine which examines the public culture of medicine in the nineteenth century.
Sue Wootton
A former physiotherapist, Sue is a writer with a keen interest in the health humanities. She is a PhD candidate in creative practice at the University of Otago, researching how healing, recovery and wellness are represented in literature. Sue’s awards include the 2015 Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize and the 2013 Victorian Cancer Council Poetry Award. She won second place in the 2013 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, and was commended in the same prize in 2016 and 2018. She held the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 2008. Sue’s poetry, fiction and non-fiction has been widely published, anthologised and translated. Her most recent publications are her debut novel, Strip (Wellington: Mākaro Press, 2016), and her fifth poetry collection, The Yield (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2017). Sue’s website is suewootton.com
Disclaimers
Content: Corpus is a medical humanities (interdisciplinary) discussion forum. Our articles are published in the spirit of open conversation about topics of interest to our readers. Our site does not provide personal medical advice, nor promote any particular approaches to medical care. Please consult a qualified health practitioner when seeking help and advice on personal health issues.
Authorship: Each Corpus writer is an independent contributor. Opinions expressed are their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or other contributors.
Commenting: Corpus is a digital salon which fosters conversations about medicine and life. As in an actual salon, we welcome critical and constructive responses to the topics being discussed. However, again as in an actual salon—or indeed any face-to-face gathering—we require comments to respect standards of common courtesy. The editors reserve the right not to publish comments which are discourteous, offensive or irrelevant.