15th Annual Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference

The Medical Humanities Workgroup at Western Michigan University is thrilled to announce the 15th Annual Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference, to take place on Friday, October 3rd, 2025. The theme of this year's meeting is Disability and Medical Humanities, which will comprise (at least) one track of presentations. Other tracks will accept submissions on any topic related to medical humanities.

We invite submissions for presentations (with up to two presenters), and we also encourage panel submissions (with three or more presenters) that bring together participants from diverse backgrounds or academic disciplines. We further encourage proposals that involve community partners, would be of interest to the general public, and/or create opportunities for students.

Submission Guidelines: Submissions should include name, department/institutional affiliation, project title, and an abstract not to exceed 500 words. Proposals should be submissed by July 15th, 2025 via the Oxford Abstracts link on the conference website. Accepted presentations will be notified by August 1st. Conference registration will be required of all presenters.

Conference Format: In recent years, the Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference has been exclusively online, hosted through Microsoft Teams. This year, we are considering in-person presentations (to be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan), in addition to online presentations. When submitting abstracts, please indicate your preferred format.

All online conference registrants will be added to Microsoft Teams. Please review the conference website for further instructions. If you need additional help, or to enroll students, please email [email protected].

Background: The Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Conference met for twelve years, from 2011–2022. Moving forward, we have rebranded as the Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference; any interested university partners are encouraged to reach out about collaboration and co-sponsorship.