Miller School Student’s Artwork Featured on Cover of Academic Medicine
A patient encounter during her first year of medical school inspired Sneha Akurati to create “Bedside,” an artwork that was selected for the June 2026 cover of Academic Medicine. The aspiring physician says art strengthens empathy, observation and human connection in clinical care.
When Sneha Akurati was a first-year medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, an interaction with a patient made a profound impression on her. Akurati’s faculty advisor was teaching her how to approach patients with curiosity, respect and care
“This was very early in our medical training of what questions to ask and how to guide a clinical conversation,” Akurati said.
At the time, she didn’t know what to say to the patient. But she found her way into a discussion about the patient’s kidney transplant and her yellow socks. Later, she wrote in her journal about it. Then she captured the moment in the first piece of art she created as a medical student. Fast forward a couple of years and that drawing, “Bedside,” (first row, left, below) was selected for the cover of a leading medical journal, the June 2026 issue of Academic Medicine.
Sneha Akurati’s Art
Why Art Matters in Medical Training
Akurati, currently in her fourth year at the Miller School, has been making art for most of her life. When she heard about the open call for artwork for the journal’s cover, she submitted three pieces. She feels honored that “Bedside” was selected.
When she was an undergraduate at UM with a dual major in global health studies and studio art, Akurati observed that art helped with science classes and science helped with art classes. Art, she says, develops intuition that can help a physician at bedside. Science teaches the discipline and rigor that an artist needs to excel.
In her second year of medical school, Akurati was elected president of Medical Humanities. The group restarted Obliterants, a humanities and social sciences journal for Miller School students, residents and faculty. As editor-in-chief, Akurati played a key role in rebuilding the journal from the ground up after a four-year hiatus.
Carrying Patients’ Stories Forward
Akurati believes that it’s vital for artists, as well as scientists, to keep a record. She writes in her journal every day.
“You don’t want to forget,” she said. “Being a doctor is a unique career. You get to meet so many people and learn about their stories and the most vulnerable parts of their lives. It gives insight into the human struggle and human resilience.”
Writing it down, processing it and sometimes turning it into art helps Akurati deepen her understanding of what it means to be a physician.
“Art has helped me connect with my patients and with myself when I witness difficult patient stories,” she says. “Some patients are at the lowest point of their lives and art helps me process that,” she said. “It fosters empathy and intuition. It helps me become the doctor I want to be.”
In rotations, art helps her process and honor patients’ stories.
“I’ve met patients who have gone through so much,” she said, “and art helps me connect with that.”
Akurati is applying to internal medicine residencies. She’s interested in a couple different subspecialties but hasn’t yet decided. But wherever her career as a physician and her work as an artist take her, she’s confident that teaching will also be involved. She’s been teaching her whole life, from neighborhood art classes when she was in high school to tutoring biology and chemistry in college and, now, as an MCAT tutor in medical school.
“I’m also in the medical education elective,” she said. “I see myself going into academics in my future career.”
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Incoming M.D./M.B.A. student AJ Hernandez discusses engineering, physician leadership, pediatric ophthalmology and returning home to Miami.
First-generation student Corazón Pazmino begins M.D./Ph.D. training at the Miller School, pursuing cancer research and equitable patient care.
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Tags: Department of Medical Education, medical education, medical students, student leadership