Take Five with Dr. Ben Schwartz ’03, PS’08

Dr. Benjamin Schwartz ’03, PS ’08 is a regular cartoonist for The New Yorker. He is also an assistant professor of medicine and chief creative officer for the Department of Surgery at the Medical Center. His academic work focuses on using visual storytelling techniques and the principles of Narrative Medicine to improve the communication skills and empathy of doctors in training, and on developing engaging educational content for the web and social media to improve health literacy within the general population.

What were you like when you arrived at Columbia?

What do you remember about your first-year living situation?

What class do you most remember and why?

Did you have a favorite spot on campus, and what did you like about it?

What, if anything, about your College experience would you do over?