Sneha Mantri, MD, an associate professor of neurology at Duke University School of Medicine and director of medical humanities at Duke University, was selected for the prestigious Macy Faculty Scholars program.
The program, led by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, supports educators like Mantri with funds and mentorship to develop innovative educational projects.
Mantri will use the opportunity to expand Moral Movements in Medicine, a program she initiated at Duke in 2020-21 with support from the Purpose Project and the Kenan Institute for Ethics. The elective focuses on empathy and narrative competence, which equips health professional students with skills to actively listen and understand their patients’ stories.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sneha Mantri to the newest class of Macy Faculty Scholars,” said Dr. Holly J. Humphrey, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
“Through her project, Dr. Mantri will develop an interprofessional humanities curriculum, which will prepare students through reflective writing workshops, ethics and history seminars, and community conversations,” Humphrey said. “At a time when many of us are feeling the divisions in our country acutely, Dr. Mantri’s proposed curriculum holds the potential to center patients’ stories with the goal of improving care for all.”
The Macy Foundation is the only national foundation dedicated solely to improving the education of health professionals. The new class of five scholars leads projects focused on themes spanning health equity and justice, climate change and health, health professions curricula and more.
Moral Movements in Medicine has evolved into a comprehensive four-year track for medical students, emphasizing health humanities and ethics to address health justice.
As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Mantri aims to extend this program to include clinical-phase students in advanced nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and physician assistant programs. The expanded program emphasizes social justice and community engagement and equips students with essential skills for success in the modern health care environment.
“My project will focus on building interprofessional learning communities in health humanities and ethics to address the structural changes in health care and help our students envision a new way to practice,” said Mantri, a neurologist who cares for patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
Macy Faculty Scholars receive salary support up to $100,000 per year for two years to implement an educational scholarly project in their institution and to participate in a program of career development activities.
Scholars become part of a network of peers and mentors and receive mentoring and career advice from our National Advisory Committee and program alums.
Mantri will be mentored by Rita Charon, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, who originated narrative medicine; and by Jeffrey P. Baker, MD, PhD, director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine.