AMWA Medical Humanities and Studio AMWA are pleased to announce that Florence Desrosiers, MD, MBA has been recognized with the 2023-24 Dr. Kathryn Ko Artist In Residence Award. The Dr. Kathryn Ko AMWA-Artist in Residence Award was established in 2015 by Studio AMWA to promote women members in the arts. The role of the Artist in Residence is to create an artistic project that is pertinent to AMWA and women in medicine. This art will then be displayed (or performed) at the following year’s annual meeting. The award is funded by a gift from Kathryn Ko, MD, MFA.
Florence Desrosiers, MD, MBA is double boarded in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Originally from Haiti, Florence’s ardor for figurative painting and portraiture began long before she obtained her MD, and manifests in over four decades spent as a self-taught artist. Following her move to the US, Dr. Desrosiers also completed a fellowship in adolescent medicine in New York. She is now a medical director in Seattle and works in utilization management for a healthcare organization. Dr. Desrosiers, being a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, likewise serves on the American Board of Pediatrics on the Adolescent Medicine Sub-board.
Florence is fascinated by the inherent humanity of creative expression and interpersonal relations. During her AIR year she intends to create a series of paintings primarily focused on concepts of face and expression as they relate to healthcare support workers. Her body of work will seek to investigate and present both the grueling intricacies and inspiriting familiarities of their lives. Through this project she hopes to give a face to and increase the visibility of healthcare support workers who support women in medicine.
Florence Desrosiers, MD, MBA
Dr. Florence Desrosiers with her art
About AMWA Medical Humanities
Medicine and the humanities have been linked since antiquity. Many of the great physicians, including Aristotle, Hippocrates, Maimonides, and Chekhov, exerted influence not only in medicine but also in the arts and humanities, positioning medicine as part of—rather than separate from—intellectual and cultural life. This merging of medicine and the medical humanities provides both an outlet for personal expression as well as an opportunity to foster more enriching care for our patients.
The American Medical Women’s Association embraces an active community of members who enrich their pursuit of medicine through the arts. AMWA’s medical humanities communities reflect the study and practice of various creative endeavors, including music, visual, literary, history, and performing arts inspired by their intersection with medicine.
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