Beyond the Jolt: Appreciation for the Power of Twelve

When I first learned Doody's Core Titles was launching an inaugural list dedicated to the health humanities, I felt a surge of professional excitement. As a research and instruction librarian embedded in one of the world's largest medical centers -- the Texas Medical Center -- and a community psychologist by training, I am constantly trying to find the best ways to bridge the gap between clinical science and human experience. The health humanities, encompassing narrative medicine, bioethics, social justice, and the arts, is central to preparing empathetic, self-aware health professionals, and the field is booming.

My immediate, and perhaps maximalist, expectation was for a grand-scale bibliography -- a comprehensive list reflecting the field's vast and growing scope. I pictured hundreds of essential monographs, ready to be checked against our collection, and instantly ready for recommendation to our diverse faculty and students. The reality, however, was far more intriguing and, frankly, more useful for a strategic launch. The inaugural list contained just twelve carefully selected titles.

From Overwhelming to Anchored: The Utility of Curation

The surprise of the limited number quickly gave way to appreciation for its strategic value. Doody's Core Titles, known for identifying fundamental resources essential for medical libraries, has brilliantly anchored a relatively new, interdisciplinary domain. By launching with a foundational set of twelve titles, it has provided immediate, crucial validation and direction for libraries and educators everywhere.

These twelve titles, despite their small number, span a remarkable breadth of pertinent topics. They don't just focus on the classic literary side of medicine; they engage deeply with the ethical, emotional, and social dimensions of care. They establish the health humanities as a rigorous field of study that intersects with:

• Narrative competence: Understanding illness through personal stories.
• Ethical inquiry: Navigating the complex moral landscapes of healthcare.
• Structural vulnerability: Examining how social context and systemic injustice shape health outcomes -- a theme particularly close to my heart as a community psychologist.

On the Ground: A Core List for Patrons and Professionals

In an era of information overload, a concise, vetted list offers clarity. It tells librarians and educators, "These books are where you start." It signals to medical students and professionals, "These are the concepts that define the field." Generally, a Doody's Core Title list is never just a list -- it's a powerful tool for service and advocacy:

• For medical students and professionals: When a resident, physician, or student seeks resources to address burnout, empathize with patients, or simply find the human element often lost in the rigor of clinical training, this list is a high-confidence starting point. Instead of navigating a potentially confusing array of hundreds of books tagged with "health" and "literature," patrons can be directed to the proven, foundational texts.
  
• For community psychologists: This list's strong focus on structural vulnerability, social contexts of health, and ethical inquiry provides community psychologists and social scientists with essential theoretical frameworks. For instance, one of the core titles, Narrative Medicine: Bridging the Gap between Evidence-Based Care and Medical Humanities (Springer, 2016), seeks to enhance practitioner empathy and focus holistically on the emotional and personal aspects of health. It anchors community-based research in the rich, contextual data found in narrative and ethical texts, reinforcing the critical connections between public health, social justice, and the clinical setting.
  
• For early-career librarians: For those just starting their careers in health sciences librarianship, especially those navigating interdisciplinary fields like the Health Humanities, Doody's Core Titles provide an invaluable framework. This list acts as a curriculum map, quickly highlighting the fundamental concepts that define the discipline in titles like Medical Humanities: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2014). It shows not just what books to consider, but why -- covering the full spectrum of the field from practical research methods and skills-based writing to the theoretical perspectives required for a well-rounded academic curriculum. This level of expert vetting helps accelerate professional confidence and ensure collection decisions are evidence-based.
  
• For collection development: This list helps justify resource allocation. Demonstrating the necessity of books that focus on person-centered medicine or personal essays alongside the latest clinical textbooks can be challenging. A Doody's Core Title endorsement provides the objective, external validation required to ensure that collections evolve to meet the holistic needs of future practitioners. It affirms that reading about the human condition in works like Person Centered Medicine (Springer, 2023) and Storytelling in Medicine: How Narrative Can Improve Practice (Routledge, 2024), is just as core to healthcare education as reading about pharmacology.

From Elective to Essential: Championing the Core

The launch of the health humanities list is more than just an update to a database; it is a recognition that the narrative, social, and ethical dimensions of medicine have officially moved from being "nice-to-have" electives to being "must-have" core competencies. Now, as the health humanities field continues its exponential growth, community psychologists and librarians across the country can look forward to tracking its expansion using Doody's Core Titles. Additionally, they can continue to champion for other essential texts like Narrative Medicine and Community-Based Health Care and Planning (Springer, 2017) and Intersections in Healing: Academic Libraries and the Health Humanities (Bloomsbury, 2024) that highlight the importance of recognizing how other disciplines can play a pivotal role in informing future healthcare professionals.

Noted & Additional Resources

Cantwell-Jurkovic, L. P. (2024). Intersections in healing: Academic libraries and the health humanities (Medical Library Association Books Series). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/intersections-in-healing-9781538171332/

Cole, T. R., Carlin, N., & Carson, R. A. (2015). Medical humanities: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.

Jimenez, T. R., S�nchez, B., McMahon, S. D., & Viola, J. (2016). A Vision for the Future of Community Psychology Education and Training. American journal of community psychology, 58(3-4), 339�347. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12079

Marini, M. G. (2016). Narrative Medicine: Bridging the Gap between Evidence-Based Care and Medical Humanities (1st ed. 2016.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22090-1

Mezzich, J. E. (Ed.). (2023). Person Centered Medicine (1st ed. 2023.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17650-0

Mi, M., Wu, L., Zhang, Y., & Wu, W. (2022). Integration of arts and humanities in medicine to develop well-rounded physicians: the roles of health sciences librarians. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 110(2), 247�252. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1368

Murphy, J. W., Franz, B. A., Choi, J. M., & Callaghan, K. A. (2017). Narrative medicine and community-based health care and planning (1st ed. 2017 edition.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61857-9

Robertson, C., Clegg, G., & Huntley, J. (Eds.). (2024). Storytelling in medicine?: how narrative can improve practice (Second edition.). CRC Press Unlimited.

Thimons, D. (2025). [Rev. of Intersections in Healing: Academic Libraries and The Health Humanities: Cantwell-Jurkovic, Laureen P., ed. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham: Medical Library Association Books, 2024. 271p. ISBN 9781538171325. $75.00 (softcover)]. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 44(1), 103�104. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2024.2426406

Tusoni, F., Ferrara, V., Franceschini, A., Cofini, V., Giusti, L., Iagnemma, A., Romano, S., Necozione, S., & Fabiani, L. (2025). In love with medical humanities! A survey on medical students' opinions and satisfaction with an integrated elective course. BMC medical education, 25(1), 1372. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-07983-1

Wershof Schwartz, A., Abramson, J. S., Wojnowich, I., Accordino, R., Ronan, E. J., & Rifkin, M. R. (2009). Evaluating the impact of the humanities in medical education. The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York, 76(4), 372�380. https://doi.org/10.1002/msj.20126

Author Information

Sandra Yvette Desjardins, PhD, MLS: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4137-1014

DCT Featured Article - December 9, 2025