National Poetry Series
1 appearances
-
Edition 15 (1993) Winner
Rafael Campo
ラファエル・カンポ
Rafael Campo
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1964-11-24 （Dover, New Jersey, United States）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Dover, New Jersey → Boston, Massachusetts → Cambridge, Massachusetts
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Physician, Author, Educator
- Active Years
- 1994-
- Affiliations
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School (Associate Professor of Medicine), Journal of the American Medical Association (poetry editor), Brandeis University (resident poet), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (resident poet), Lesley University (MFA program faculty)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst College | — | — | BA, MA | — | United States |
| Harvard Medical School | — | Medical School | MD | — | United States |
Amherst College
Degree:
BA, MA
Country:
United States
BA and MA earned (graduation years unspecified)
Harvard Medical School
Medical School
Degree:
MD
Country:
United States
Doctor of Medicine (graduation year unspecified)
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Hippocrates Open International Prize for Poetry and Medicine (First Prize) | — | — | Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine | First Prize |
| — | Lambda Literary Award | — | — | Lambda Literary | Winner/受賞（年不明） |
| — | National Poetry Series | — | — | National Poetry Series | Winner/選出（年不明） |
| 1997 | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | Fellowship |
Hippocrates Open International Prize for Poetry and Medicine (First Prize)
2013
Organization:
Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine
Result:
First Prize
Lambda Literary Award
Organization:
Lambda Literary
Result:
Winner/受賞（年不明）
National Poetry Series
Organization:
National Poetry Series
Result:
Winner/選出（年不明）
Guggenheim Fellowship
1997
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
Fellowship
Awards & Nominations
Lambda Literary Awards
2 appearances
-
Edition 9 (1997) Winner
-
Edition 10 (1998) Winner
Works
Major Works
The Other Man Was Me: A Voyage to the New World
1994 PoetryA collection of poems addressing immigration, identity, and the relation between self and other.
ImmigrationIdentitySocial marginalization
What the Body Told
1996 PoetryPoems exploring the body, emotion, and the intersection of medicine and personal history.
The bodyMedicineMemory
The Poetry of Healing: A Doctor's Education in Empathy, Identity, and Desire
1997 Essays / PoetryA work reflecting on empathy, identity, and desire through the lens of a physician and poet.
EmpathyMedical ethicsDesire
Diva
1999 PoetryA collection of poems about desire, identity, and social expectations.
DesireSelf-expressionSocial norms
Landscape with Human Figure
2002 PoetryPoems that juxtapose landscape and human presence to explore social and personal relationships.
LandscapeHuman relationshipsSociety
The Healing Art: A Doctor's Black Bag of Poetry
2003 PoetryPoems drawing on clinical experience to demonstrate the power of healing and empathy.
Clinical practiceHealingEmpathy
The Enemy
2007 PoetryA collection exploring conflict, otherness, and social antagonisms.
ConflictOthernessSocial issues
Alternative Medicine
2013 PoetryPoems questioning medicine, alternative perspectives, and the diversity of healing.
Medical critiqueDiversity of healingCulture
Comfort Measures Only: New and Selected Poems, 1994–2016
2018 Selected PoemsA selection of new and selected poems from 1994–2016, covering medicine, personal history, and social themes.
MedicinePersonal historySocial justice
Bibliography
- The Other Man Was Me: A Voyage to the New World (1994)
- What the Body Told (1996)
- The Poetry of Healing: A Doctor's Education in Empathy, Identity, and Desire (1997)
- Diva (1999)
- Landscape with Human Figure (2002)
- The Healing Art: A Doctor's Black Bag of Poetry (2003)
- The Enemy (2007)
- Alternative Medicine (2013)
- Comfort Measures Only: New and Selected Poems, 1994–2016 (2018)
Adaptations
- The poem "Silence=Death" was set to music by composer Joseph Hallman as part of the AIDS Quilt Songbook project
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Clear, empathetic voiceColloquial, rhythmic verseObservational detail informed by medical experience
- Recurring Motifs
- Medicine and healingIdentity and desireSocial justice and LGBTQ experienceWorking-class perspective
Legacy
Rafael Campo, as both a physician and poet, is recognized for advocating the importance of empathy in medicine through his poetry and for bringing LGBTQ and Latino voices into literature. He has influenced the intersection of poetry and medicine and reached broad audiences of readers and healthcare professionals through teaching and readings.
Academic Societies
- Academy of American Poets (associated)
Archives
- NYU Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database (annotations and audio)
In Popular Culture
- Musical settings of poems (e.g., AIDS Quilt Songbook project)
Quotes
-
It would be wrong for a physician to only focus on 'the heartless, purely fact-based narrative we record in their charts.'
Source: The Irish Times (interview summary), 2022 (2022)
Trivia
- Born to Cuban and Italian heritage in the United States.
- Maintains parallel careers as a physician and a poet.
- Work has been included in Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies.