Extra-Curricular Activities
Extra-Curricular Activities
Enrichment Opportunities
Students are welcome to participate in enrichment opportunities at the medical school. For example, faculty/student interest groups, and clinical and community volunteering.
Bioethics Grand Rounds
Monthly Bioethics Grand Rounds provide participants with an opportunity to learn about and discuss current issues in clinical ethics.
RMO Rochester Medical Orchestra
Founded in 2010 by healthcare provider-musicians who were seeking opportunities to make music and create community, the Rochester Medical Orchestra provides a welcoming space for all. After a hiatus, this orchestra was reimagined and reconfigured in 2025 to include Evan Meccarello as the conductor, an operating board comprised of students and professionals, opportunities to share music during rehearsals and concerts at the Monroe Community Hospital, as well as small ensemble performances in our community.
Health Humanities Grand Rounds
A Health Humanities Grand Rounds is held each month and attended by students, healthcare professionals and faculty from throughout the Medical Center. These presentations are designed to transmit knowledge about the non-biomedical aspects of the patient/provider relationship in a continuum of psychological, social, cultural, spiritual and environmental interactions in the biopsychosocial tradition.
History of Medicine - The George Washington Corner Society
The George Washington Corner Society for the History of Medicine, founded in 1934, is one of the longest-running lecture series in the history of medicine in the country. George Washington Corner, the University of Rochester Medical School's first Professor of Anatomy, started the society as a local medical history club for Rochester medical students and faculty. In the decades since, it has evolved into a lecture series – held at the beautiful Rochester Academy of Medicine – that features eminent historians speaking to and engaging with an audience of University of Rochester affiliates from across our campuses, community members, faculty and students from other Rochester universities, and people from all over the world via Zoom.
the Reel Mind
Reel Mind Mental Health Film Festival: Since 2009, The Reel Mind Film & Theatre Series has been bringing to Rochester, NY, films, performances, and discussions that address the social stigma of mental illness and behavioral disorders while providing a message of hope that recovery is possible.
Bioethics Journal Club
Students are welcome to attend the School of Medicine & Dentistry's Bioethics Journal Club. The Journal Club is student lead and student run, and attended by Drs. Shaw and Sussman. Student members sign up to facilitate each monthly meeting. During each meeting, the group discusses an article or two selected by the students from the following journals: The Hastings Center Report, The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. The topics are diverse and the discussions lively.
Health Humanities Interest Group
The Health Humanities Interest Group will offer the student body an opportunity to explore their curiosity in the health humanities. We will provide a common space to unite people with multidisciplinary interests in art, writing, music, dance, history, and other expressions of medical humanities. We hope to promote the development of a community of students interested in collaborating in their creative endeavors and working with and learning from physicians who integrate the humanities into their lives and careers.
Bioethics Interest Group (BIG)
Murmur
murmur, a literary and arts journal, was founded in 2015 and is led by medical students with input from a faculty advisor. murmur is published annually and includes poetry, prose, and art from members of the University of Rochester Medical Center community, including students, physicians, nurses, and alumni. The annual release party is held in the spring at the Rochester Academy of Medicine. Copyrights of all printed materials belong to their creators. murmur receives funding from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the University Committee for Interdisciplinary Studies, and the University of Rochester School of Medicine Student Senate.
Progress Notes
Progress Notes, a reflective writing group, was founded in 2018 and is led by medical students with input from a faculty advisor. Progress Notes meet quarterly to host writing workshops themed around medical education, student identity formation, and clinical encounters. The group aims to foster a community of student writers and to create a space for dialogue about perspectives in medicine. Additionally, Progress Notes partners with murmur to host events such as a clinician-writer Q&A panel.
THE REFLECTOR
About The Reflector - A Guide for Students
Cadaver: Latin = one who has fallen.
Introduction
The purpose of this book is to serve as a reminder that medicine is not only a science, but also an art of understanding how our own individuality interacts with the individuality of those around us. We see The Reflector as a humanities-based tool to help students learn anatomy, and to begin to establish the balance between emotional responses and objective responsibilities. In order to grow personally and professionally, students need time and space to think about our values, beliefs, and experiences; and recognize that these elements will mold us into the physicians that we will become....
Annual Dr. Sidney Sobel Bioethics Lectureship Series at the Rochester Academy of Medicine
Founded in 2024, the Sobel Lectureship Series promotes 1 to 2 lectures from national leaders across the Country to speak on cutting-edge bioethics issues
Previous Presenters:
- 2024 (Fall): Spirituality and End of Life in Adults (Panel Aasim Padela, MD, MSc, FACEP, Joe Fins, M.D., M.A.C.P., F.R.C.P, and Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR; moderator: Margie Shaw, JD, PhD)
- 2025 (Spring): Spirituality and End of Life in Pediatrics (Panel: Rick Kodish, Abdullah Shoaib, MD, and Doug Diekema, MD, MPH; moderator: Bryanna Moore, PhD
- 2025 (Fall): Music and Medicine: Charles Limb, MD, PhD
Upcoming:
- 2026 (Fall): AI and Ethics, Emma Pierson, PhD
Humanities Center
The University of Rochester Humanities Center is dedicated to exploring the varied dimensions of the human experience.
Office of Engagement and Enrichment
The Office of University Engagement and Enrichment is leading efforts to strengthen connection and belonging—on our campuses and beyond. We focus on creating an environment that embraces a wide range of perspectives and ideas, that enhance learning, encourage critical thinking, and invite and deepen civil discourse to drive innovation, curiosity, and excellence
Visit the Office of University Engagement and Enrichment
Eastman Performing Arts Medicine Center
The University of Rochester’s Eastman Performing Arts Medicine (EPAM) Center, a joint venture between Eastman School of Music and the department of health, humanities, and bioethics at the School of Medicine and Dentistry.