Dear DWC readers,
Happy new year! It’s been quite a year (or two). The constant back and forth of anxiety and relief, burnout and gratitude, setback and breakthrough of this pandemic has been felt by each and every human around the world, and certainly felt by healthcare workers, which include many of our community.
In this year, we published book reviews and podcast episodes, and reflections on training amongst the pandemic. Each of us, individually, tried to keep up with our creative lives as we responded to the demands of work and the global pandemic.
For many, this year has been a year of reflection, a moment to pause and think about what makes us us, and what we want to spend our precious time doing. Many have changed their jobs, when able; moved back with family; cherished their lives more after seeing the suffering of others.
One of the things I realized was that it was time for me to end operations on Doctors Who Create. I wasn’t spending as much time on it as I would have liked, and as posts and quality of the site dwindled, and I stopped responding as quickly to emails, I felt it was keeping up in appearance but not actuality. I never realized when I started it, as a personal blog in 2015, that it would grow into a site with many contributors and editors, a podcast, and an inspiration for conferences. The highlight of my time spent on it, while also the hardest effort, was working with our conference team to hold the 2019 Creativity in Medicine conference at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Getting to actually meet all these people from around the country who identified as creatives in medicine, including members of our team who I had only ever met virtually, was incredibly inspiring and unforgettable. DWC has been growing, but it came to a point where I realized that I did not have the vision, drive, or time to continue its growth. I am forever grateful for the whole team in putting in so much work and, of course, creativity, over the years. The fruits of that labor will remain up on the website for people to enjoy and hopefully draw inspiration from throughout their medical training and lives. Additionally, our podcast hosts Darlina Liu and Mekala Neelakantan will be continuing the podcast as their own endeavor, and making it their own (subscribe now here: spotify, apple).
For me, I see it as an ending and a beginning, in a way. I personally plan to use the spare time I have, after time with family and work, to continue my writing in its various forms. I am excited to continue to follow and draw inspiration from the ideas, art, writing, music, apps, companies, research, and other innovations of our DWC team members and larger community.
Wishing you a 2022 full of creativity and joy!
Vidya Viswanathan
Founder, Doctors Who Create