As we end our 2020 publication cycle in what has been an extraordinary year, we are delighted to honor the winners of the annual William Carlos Williams Poetry Medical Student Competition and to share their verse in this issue of the journal. They are:

  • Joey Lew grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and is now a second-year medical student at University of California, San Francisco. He received a BS in Chemistry from Yale in 2017 and an MFA in poetry from University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2019. Joey writes that, to him, art and science are not dissimilar, that “the feeling of finding words that slot together is the same as that of a chain of reactions finally producing pure product: joy.” His poem, “On an Organ Donation Run,” placed first in this year’s competition.

  • Ellen Zhang is now a third-year student at Harvard Medical School. She is passionate about using writing as a medium to unravel the complexities of medicine and to enhance patient care. Her poem, “before chemotherapy,” placed second in this year’s competition.

  • Wesley Chou is currently a senior medical student at Harvard Medical School. He has enjoyed writing throughout his life but has found it takes on even new meaning during medical school. He finds it a useful way in which to process his experiences and capture meaningful moments and enjoys dabbling in poetry and longer reflection pieces. His poem, “The Old Man,” placed third in this year’s competition.

On behalf of the editorial board of JMH, we congratulate all of these students and are grateful for their commitment and resilience as they pursue their education and training in such challenging circumstances. We look forward to publishing and reading their work in future issues.