Medicine Unboxed

Medicine Unboxed is a project arising from a view that good medicine demands more than scientific and technical expertise, and that it necessitates ethical judgment, an understanding of human experience, empathy, professionalism and wisdom.

Medicine Unboxed is a not-for-profit organisation that has held five international conferences (Unboxing Medicine, 2009; Stories, Language and Medicine, 2010; Medicine and Values, 2011; Belief, 2012; Voice, 2013) in Cheltenham, UK. The aim of Medicine Unboxed is to explore "understanding medicine through the arts and humanities", and engage the public and front-line National Health Service staff with a view of medicine that is infused and elaborated by the humanities, with a view to promoting dialogue around the goals and values of medicine within society. Contributors to the conferences include artists, writers, the clergy, poets, philosophers, lawyers, linguists, musicians, theatre, ethicists, academics and doctors.

Notable contributors include Amateur Transplants, Dannie Abse, Gwyneth Lewis, Jo Shapcott, Frank Harsent, Gabriel Weston and Raymond Tallis. Medicine Unboxed is curated by Dr. Sam Guglani, Consultant Oncologist at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, that supports the organisation along with the Wellcome Foundation. The Creative Director is Peter Thomas and advisors are Dr. Sean Elyan and Dame Janet Trotter.

Medicine Unboxed has been widely reported in the medical press including The Guardian, The Lancet, The British Medical Journal Online and Lapidus.

The third event in the Medicine Unboxed series was Medicine and Values, which took place on 15 October 2011 at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham and included contributions by Lionel Shriver, Jo Shapcott, Revd. John Bell, Raymond Tallis, John Carey, Paul Bailey, Michael Arditti, Havi Carel and Tom Isaacs (of The Cure Parkinson's Trust).

In 2012, the Medicine Unboxed theme was Belief. Contributors included Sebastian Faulks, John Burnside, Marius Brill, Bryan Appleyard, Rupert Sheldrake, Tim Parks, Richard Holloway, Iona Heath, Matthew Flinders, Richard Horton, Clare Short, Darian Leader, Raymond Tallis, Jo Shapcott, Jan Royall, Jane Macnaughton, Adam Kay, Charles Fernyhough and Rhidian Brook. Medicine Unboxed 2012: belief took place on November 24-25, 2012 at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham.

In 2013, the theme of Medicine Unboxed was Voice, and the event took place on 23-24 November 2013. Speakers included: Andrew Motion, Jocelyn Pook, Roger Kneebone, Eleanor Longden, Fi Glover, Jackie Kay, Bobby Baker, Melanie Pappenheim, Deborah Bowman, Rebecca Askew, Eduardo Miranda, Allyson Pollock, Jo Shapcott, Rhys Morgan, Julian Baggini, Richard Bentall, Charles Fernyhough, Roger Taylor, Bob Heath, Birmingham Medical School Choir and Raymond Tallis.

In 2014, Medicine Unboxed will explore Frontiers. The event will take place on 22-23 November 2014 at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham.

In 2014. Medicine Unboxed will award the Medicine Unboxed Creative Prize a single prize of £10,000 for a creative work that illuminates the relationship between the arts and medicine.


 * Events
 * 2009 Unboxing Medicine
 * 2010 Stories, Language and Medicine
 * 2011 Medicine and Values
 * 2012 Belief
 * 2013 Voice
 * 2014 Frontiers