In his blog post, Larner College of Medicine second-year medical student Brian Nguyen reflects on how his passion for playing piano—nurtured by his late aunt—shaped his emotionally grounded perspective on cancer.
In “Notes of Resilience: A Medical Student’s Insight on Music, Cancer, and Meaning,” Nguyen describes how a deeply moving interaction with a young cancer patient in an emergency department challenged his view of cancer as a “fight” and instead prompted him to embrace a more humanistic and healing-focused approach. Inspired by interdisciplinary dialogue, Nguyen aspires to a future in academic medicine where he supports patients with empathy, personalized care, and compassionate communication.
“Cancer patients are not looking to fight, but to heal,” he reflects. “Meaningful conversations made me recognize that a humanistic perspective is needed to address the human side of cancer.”