Nicole Piemonte
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Peekie Nash Carpenter Endowed Chair in Medicine, and co-program director for master’s of medical humanities program
Education: BA, English, Arizona State University MA, Interpersonal Communication and Advocacy, Arizona State University PhD, Medical Humanities, The University of Texas Medical Branch
Honors: Gold Humanism Honor Society Inductee (2021) Peekie Nash Carpenter Endowed Chair (2020) Golden Apple Award (2018)
Worked at Creighton: 5 years
What do you do?
“As the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the School of Medicine in Phoenix, I support the personal and professional development of students as they progress through their medical training. For better or worse, medical school is a transformative experience.”
I am committed to shaping future doctors who are critical thinkers, compassionate people, and who can acknowledge and respond to vulnerability—their patients and their own. To this end, I also develop and teach the medical humanities curriculum in the medical school. We are so fortunate at Creighton that there is such a significant emphasis on ethics, humanities, and character formation in our curriculum. We know this is what sets our medical students apart.
I am also a co-program director for the new master’s in medical humanities program. I’ve helped design the courses and will be teaching two classes this fall.”
Why do you love your job?
I love my job so much. I love the people I work with and the students I have the privilege to teach. It’s so incredible to contribute—even in a small way—to the development of people who will provide compassionate care to patients who need it most.
Why are you proud to be part of Creighton University?
“Creighton truly is committed to cura personalis, social justice, and character formation. I feel so fortunate to work at an institution committed to such important values. I also value my colleagues and my leadership — we truly are a family!”
What are your research interests?
“My teaching, research and creative activity focus broadly on questions about what it means to be human and how the lived experiences of vulnerability and suffering can contribute to the cultivation of the medical self. More specifically, my research centers on medical ethics, medical epistemology and pedagogy, literature/narrative and medicine, existential philosophy and phenomenology, and critical social theory.
My current work has expanded to include a consideration of the ways in which educators might encourage personal and professional development among medical and health professions students through the humanities and critical reflection. My first book focused on the need to embrace vulnerability—including a genuine acknowledgment of the existential suffering associated with illness and death—in medical education in order to cultivate future healers who are more than mere technicians.
My second book coming out this September focuses more specifically on end-of-life care and how we can better care for patients who are dying, which also includes rethinking how we educate future healthcare professionals.”
What do you enjoy outside of work?
“I love to spend time with the people I love, including my dog, Ben, and my cat, George Washington. I also like to read, hike, camp, and travel.”
Community involvement: community trainer for the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association’s Communication in Serious Illness program.
“I help teach various groups (doctors, chaplains, nurses, etc.) how to initiate difficult conversations with patients about serious or terminal illness so that patients and their loved ones can make decisions about end-of-life care that are aligned with their goals and values.”
What do you like about the new Creighton Health Sciences Campus - Phoenix?
“Everything! Of course, the new building is just incredible, but our faculty and staff, and especially our students, are even more so.”
