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Gretchen A. Case

Gretchen A. Case, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Adjunct - Internal Medicine

Divisions: General Medicine

Research Interests

  • Communication Methods, Total
  • Teaching and Curriculum Development
  • Medicine in Literature
  • Humanities
  • Education, Medical, Undergraduate
  • Education, Medical, Graduate
  • Education, Premedical
  • Students, Premedical
  • Students, Medical

Gretchen A. Case is Director of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities at the University of Utah. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and an Associate Professor (adjunct) in the Department of Internal Medicine. She received a BA in Speech Communication and History and an MA in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Case's research and teaching interests are best categorized as health humanities (also called medical humanities), an interdisciplinary field that addresses the ways in which the arts and humanities intersect with the medical arts and sciences. Her scholarly projects often combine communication, performance, disability theory, cultures of medicine, oral history, and ethnography. Dr. Case also has more than ten years of experience as a public historian, specializing in histories of science and medicine. Before joining the University of Utah faculty in 2010, Dr. Case taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students at UNC-Chapel Hill, UC Berkeley, the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program, Florida State University, Northwestern University, and Duke University. At the U, she has taught in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and in the Department of Theatre as well as guest lecturing in other schools and colleges. Along with Dr. Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, Dr. Case received a Research Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a rehearsal framework to improve the interpersonal communication skills of medical learners. Dr. Case has contributed significantly to projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the NIH-funded Utah Center for Excellence in ELSI Research.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Pippitt KA, Chow CJ, Case GA (2021). Instagram as a virtual art display for medical students. Can Med Educ J, 12(3), 174-175. (Read full article)
  2. Chow CJ, Case GA, Matias CE (2019). Tools for Discussing Identity and Privilege Among Medical Students, Trainees, and Faculty. MedEdPORTAL, 15, 10864. (Read full article)
  3. Casanova R, Miller V, Cheon J, Gilmore L, Barron R, Cannaday R, Case G, Digre K, Jensen J, McGregor AJ, Pippitt K, Davidge-Pitts C, Pomeroy B, Webster D, Jenkins M (2019). Field Test Results of Sex- and Gender-Specific Health Multimedia Case-Based Learning Modules. J Womens Health (Larchmt), 28(12), 1755-1761. (Read full article)
  4. Steinmann ME, Case GA, Ferrell S (2019). Preclinical Medical Student Attitudes Toward Use of Psychiatry Residents as Actors in a Suicide and Violence Risk Assessment Simulation Activity. Acad Psychiatry, 43(4), 451-454. (Read full article)
  5. Case GA, Pippitt KA, Lewis BR (2018). Shame. Perspect Med Educ, 7(Suppl 1), 12-15. (Read full article)
  6. Rothwell E, Botkin JR, Cheek-ODonnell S, Wong B, Case GA, Johnson E, Matheson T, Wilson A, Robinson NR, Rawlings J, Horejsi B, Lopez AM, Byington CL (2018). An empirical assessment of the short-term impacts of a reading of Deborah Zoe Laufer's drama Informed Consent on attitudes and intentions to participate in genetic research. AJOB Empir Bioeth, 9(2), 69-76. (Read full article)
  7. Cross SN, Dickhut E, Kidd M, Antony K, Case GA, Linehan M, Tyler C (2012). Birth: a collection of poems. J Med Humanit, 33(2), 127-34. (Read full article)
  8. Case G (2007). The Magic of X-ray Vision. Virtual Mentor, 9(11), 773-5. (Read full article)