The Harvard Medical School Committee on Artwork and Cultural Representations serves as an anchoring point for HMS when considering artistic projects and proposals.

The committee’s charge is to develop an overarching philosophy to guide current and future efforts for the purpose and meaning of institutional artwork at HMS. This will be key to ensuring that changes avoid a feeling of “tokenism.” This philosophy must be consistent with HMS’ Mission Statement as well as its Diversity Statement. This committee will then apply this philosophy when approached with requests related to artwork and cultural representations.

History of the HMS Committee on Artwork and Cultural Representations

In October 2018, at the direction of Dean Daley to the HMS/HSDM Faculty Council, a subcommittee of the Harvard Medical School Faculty Council was formed to focus on campus artwork and cultural representations and tasked with formulating guiding principles for use in considering HMS history, current spaces, and symbols and how each impacts the School's mission, and for use in general consideration of how and why HMS commemorates certain individuals across its campus. A special task force of the Harvard Medical School Faculty Council Subcommittee on Artwork and Cultural Representations formulated guiding principles for elements for use in considering HMS history, current spaces, and symbols and how each impacts the School's mission, and for use in general consideration of how and why HMS commemorates certain individuals across its campus. 

In 2019, the HMS Dean’s Office along with members of the HMS/HSDM Faculty Council subcommittee, applied for and received a grant from the 2019 Dean's Innovation Awards in Diversity and Inclusion for an HMS Artwork and Cultural Representations project. The work under the grant was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and staff transitions. 

The Committee was reconstituted in the Fall of 2022 to reflect broad representation of the HMS community.  The Committee additionally meets regularly to support the HMS Artwork and Cultural Representations project to ensure:

(1) that the subject and ultimate recommendation are deeply considered and discussed by a representative cross-section of the community, 
(2) that a guiding philosophy is offered to direct future efforts; this is key to ensure that changes avoid a feeling of “tokenism”, 
(3) that near-term projects are reviewed prior to implementation. 

Committee Leaders

  • David Shumway Jones, PhD, MD, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Member, HMS Center for Bioethics – Co-Chair, HMS Committee on Artwork and Cultural Representations
  • Jennifer M. Ryan, JD, Chief of Staff, Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, HMS – Project Lead, HMS Committee on Artwork and Cultural Representations
  • Zoe Spearman, Project Administrator, Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, HMS – Staff Member, HMS Committee on Artwork and Cultural Representations

Committee Members

  • Mercedes Becerra, ScD, Jeffrey Cheah Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, HMS
  • Terésa J. Carter, MCM, Career Development Program Manager, Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership, HMS
  • Marcela G. del Carmen, MD, MPH, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology (MGH and HMS), Faculty Council Vice-Chair (AY20-21), HMS
  • Pamela Chen, MD, Rising Chief Resident (BMC), Boston Children's Hospital
  • Emily R. Novak Gustainis, MLS, Deputy Director, Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, HMS
  • Dominic Hall, MA, ALM, Manager, Curation and Stewardship, Anatomy and Artifact Collections, Countway Library, HMS
  • Stephen Maiorisi, Chief Campus Planning and Facilities Officer, HMS
  • Jane Neill, Associate Dean for Medical Education Planning and Administration, Program in Medical Education (PME), HMS
  • N. Synclaire Ogelsby, MSc, Program Manager for the Center for Computational Biomedicine's Healthcare Transformation Initiative, HMS
  • Scott Podolsky, MD, Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine and Director of Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, HMS
  • Carlos R. Ponce, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, HMS
  • Joan Reede, MD, MBA, MPM, Professor of Medicine (MGH and HMS), Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, HMS
  • William Shen, MD Student (Class of 2026)
  • Susanna Orrego Villegas, MD, MHA, Candidate Master in Medical Science and Global Health Delivery 2023, Harvard University & Candidate Child Protection Certificate 2022 FXB Center for Health and Human rights, Harvard University, HMS
  • Meredith Solomon, BS Outreach Officer, Countway Library, HMS