From Gallery to Clinic: LECOM Students Step into Erie's Art Scene

Contributed

Kristen Karrfalt, development director for the Erie Art Museum (left) and Dr. Ferretti celebrate the recent partnership between LECOM and the Art Museum, as students learn about the therapeutic opportunities that art provides.

If Dr. Silvia Ferretti hadn't become a physician, she would've pursued a life in the arts. She wasn't born a Van Gogh or a Rembrandt, she admits, but her appreciation for creativity runs deep. Just outside her office sits an administrative assistant who once danced professionally as a ballerina in New York City, trading pointe shoes for paperwork – but never losing her love for performance.

The lesson? Art is everywhere. And now, Ferretti – provost, senior vice president, and dean of academic affairs at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) – wants her medical students to see that, too.

In a new partnership with the Erie Art Museum, LECOM is introducing art-focused programming into its curriculum, blending creativity with clinical care to help future physicians see with more than just their eyes. The programming, referred to as "Visual Thinking Strategies" aims to teach students to observe their surroundings and deepen their critical thinking.

There will be cohorts of about 10 to 15 students throughout the year that visit the museum for the training and will learn how to look at things through the eyes of someone else. "Unless somebody tells you that and brings you through it, it's not intuitive, necessarily," Ferretti said. "What's intuitive is that you like certain colors and it moves you, but it's not intuitive to know the history of why that subject was chosen or what the small symbolism in it is."

She remarked that liberal art schools have historically taught art history, but as curricula change, it's not as common. With this training, she hopes to strengthen a student's holistic understanding of their future patients and their experiences.

"You use all your senses when you learn something," Ferretti said. "A doctor certainly is not only hearing what the patient has to say but observing what the patient has to say and observing the state they're in when they say it."

It's not just about skills, though. The partnership is meant to get people to the heart of downtown and promote wellness. A study published in the Medical Science Educator in 2022 even found that arts courses help mitigate medical student burnout. "Art and creativity are increasingly recognized as viable ways to combat stress, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and more," said Laura Domencic, executive director of the Erie Art Museum. "This partnership with LECOM will provide their students with an opportunity to learn about the therapeutic opportunities in art."

After the first year, LECOM will review feedback from students then tailor and hopefully expand the program. Ferretti said it's her goal to integrate it into their master's and early acceptance programs, too, as they're affiliated with local colleges and universities.

"We can give them exposure to it," she said. "So we think when you're affiliated with us, even before you become a medical student, this will be an opportunity to use this program."

Ferretti said the program supports LECOM's mission to shape not just skilled physicians, but compassionate, community-minded individuals. By stepping outside the classroom and into Erie's cultural spaces, students can both decompress from the rigors of medical training and sharpen their ability to observe – not just symptoms, but people.

By weaving art into its curriculum, LECOM is embracing a broader vision of medical education – one that values empathy as much as anatomy, and observation beyond the confines of a lab.

"I'm really thrilled about having the experience with them because I think it just broadens the horizons of these young people," Ferretti remarked. "You know sometimes when you're going to be a doctor or going into the sciences, you don't have time for other things, but if you feel the other things will benefit what your main goal is, then you know you've killed two birds with one stone. So if they can learn empathy and observation and then they also start to develop an enjoyment for the arts, that's great."

Chloe Forbes is a local journalist who believes future doctors should consider hanging a whimsical cat painting in their office. Reach her at chloeforbes14@gmail.com.