Katherine E. Standefer teaches in the Medical Humanities Department’s new Narrative Medicine pilot program, facilitating a required course for first-year medical students called “Responding to the Sexual Health Stories of Patients” and implementing a reflective writing curriculum. A Certified Sexologist with a background in public health, Standefer has provided sexuality education to more than 7,800 people. She is also an award-winning creative nonfiction writer whose work centers on the experience of the body as related to illness, consent, medical technology, and sexuality.
My work is the stories people tell about their bodies. Blending creative nonfiction writing and socionarratology, I help individuals engage their narratives of illness and sexuality on the page, and I work to incorporate narrative medicine into medical education. Narrative Medicine is the movement to honor the role of storytelling in the clinical encounter; we train practitioners to better receive, interpret, and respond to patient stories