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Susan J. Sample
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Susan J. Sample, PhD, MFA

Languages spoken: English

Clinical Locations

Huntsman Cancer Institute - Cancer Hospital South

Clinic 1B, Wellness and Integrative Health
Salt Lake City
801-587-4585
  • Susan J. Sample, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the School of Medicine, directs the Initiative in Narrative, Medicine, and Writing at the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities at the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Health Sciences. She is an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Writer-in-Residence at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). She received her BA in philosophy from Whitman College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Arizona. She completed her Ph.D. in communication, focusing on rhetoric, narrative, and medicine, from the U of U. Her research explores the rhetorical ways physicians and patients use narrative, particularly how physician-trainees use narrative when writing about experiences with patients at the end of life. She teaches medical humanities and reflective writing in the School of Medicine. She also is the faculty advisor for the Literature & Health Care Discussion Group, facilitator for the Resident Physician Writing Group, and faculty advisor for the medical students' literary journal, Rubor: Reflections on Medicine from the Wasatch Front. At HCI, Dr. Sample guides patients, caregivers, physicians, and staff in reflecting upon and writing about their experiences. She offerd workshops as well as individual writing consultation. She is the author of a full-length poetry collection, Trapped in the Bone-House (forthcoming fall 2023); and two poetry chapbooks, Terrible Grace (2011) and Some Unsayable Blue (2019), both published by Finishing Line Press. In spring 2021, she published Voices of Teenage Transplant Survivors: Miracle-Like (Emerald Publishing), which describes poetry workshops she led for 12 years and the poems produced by the teens who had heart, liver, and kidney transplants. Her poetry has appeared in journals ranging from literary journals, including Tupelo Quarterly, to medical journals, including JAMA and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

    Specialties

  • Susan J. Sample, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the School of Medicine, directs the Initiative in Narrative, Medicine, and Writing at the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities at the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Health Sciences. She is an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Writer-in-Residence at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). She received her BA in philosophy from Whitman College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Arizona. She completed her Ph.D. in communication, focusing on rhetoric, narrative, and medicine, from the U of U. Her research explores the rhetorical ways physicians and patients use narrative, particularly how physician-trainees use narrative when writing about experiences with patients at the end of life. She teaches medical humanities and reflective writing in the School of Medicine. She also is the faculty advisor for the Literature & Health Care Discussion Group, facilitator for the Resident Physician Writing Group, and faculty advisor for the medical students' literary journal, Rubor: Reflections on Medicine from the Wasatch Front. At HCI, Dr. Sample guides patients, caregivers, physicians, and staff in reflecting upon and writing about their experiences. She offerd workshops as well as individual writing consultation. She is the author of a full-length poetry collection, Trapped in the Bone-House (forthcoming fall 2023); and two poetry chapbooks, Terrible Grace (2011) and Some Unsayable Blue (2019), both published by Finishing Line Press. In spring 2021, she published Voices of Teenage Transplant Survivors: Miracle-Like (Emerald Publishing), which describes poetry workshops she led for 12 years and the poems produced by the teens who had heart, liver, and kidney transplants. Her poetry has appeared in journals ranging from literary journals, including Tupelo Quarterly, to medical journals, including JAMA and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

    Board Certification and Academic Information

    Academic Departments Internal Medicine -Emeritus
    Huntsman Cancer Institute -Emeritus
    Academic Divisions General Medicine

    Education history

    Doctoral Training Communication with Emphasis in Rhetoric and Writing Studies - Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Ph.D.
    Fellowship Narrative and Medicine - Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Fellow
    Graduate Training Creative Writing - Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Arizona M.F.A.
    Undergraduate Philosophy - Whitman College B.A.

    Selected Publications

    Journal Article

    1. Susan J Sample (2024). "Afterlife". Lit Med, 42(1), 16-20.
    2. Sample S (2011). Vulnerability in physicians' narratives. Virtual Mentor, 13(7), 494-8. ()

    Book

    1. Susan J Sample (Fall 2023). Trapped in the Bone-House: Poems. Charlotte, North Carolina: Main Street Rag Publishing.
    2. SJ Sample (2021). Voices of Teenage Transplant Survivors:  Miracle-like. . Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing.
    3. Susan Sample (2019). Some Unsayable Blue:  Poems. Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press.
  • News & Podcasts

    Huntsman Cancer Institute News