Award Opportunities
Fisch Art of Medicine & John Song Student Awards
2025-2026 Fisch Art of Medicine & John Song Student Awards
The Fisch & Song Awards application deadline has passed for the 2025-2026 academic year. Applicants will be notified of their award status in late May.
About the Awards
The Fisch Art of Medicine & John Song Student Awards allow University of Minnesota medical students (current MS1-MS3, MSTP, Duluth & Twin Cities) to explore the arts and humanities in ways that are not typically emphasized in a conventional medical school curriculum.
Both awards acknowledge the reality that even during this time of rapid scientific advancement, medicine remains as much an art as it is a science. These annual awards nurture creativity, allow students to express themselves in new ways, and enhance lifelong connections between the art and science of medicine. All award recipients will present their work at the annual Fisch & Song Celebration held each spring.
Fisch Awards:
Any artistic or creative project—limited only by the applicant's imagination—will be considered. Past projects have come from a range of creative disciplines including: music, dance, photography, sculpture, writing, crafting, theatre, and aerial arts to name a few. Preference will be given to acquisition of new knowledge or a new skill.
Song Awards:
These projects center around advocacy through the lens of the arts and humanities. These awards provide a platform and funding source for projects sitting at the intersection of community service, artistic creation, and/or research.
Legacy of Fisch & Song Awards
Fisch Art of Medicine Student Awards
The Legacy of Dr. Robert O. Fisch
University of Minnesota pediatrics professor emeritus Robert O. Fisch, MD, and his wife, Karen Bachman, established the Fisch Art of Medicine Student Awards in 2007. The endowed fund was created to honor the spirit and work of Dr. Fisch, a physician, artist, and Holocaust survivor who has shared his experiences through writing and art. A humanitarian with deep commitment to the arts, young people, and medicine, Fisch combined his work as a pediatrician with an artist's sensitivity to the world around him.
Dr. Fisch believed that this award will enrich the lives of physicians in training as well as their future patients. The Fisch Award aims to support medical students who long to address untapped creative urges or reacquaint themselves with avocations that have gone dormant during their medical studies. Dr. Fisch died June 12, 2022, on his 97th birthday, and CFAM is honored to continue his legacy through the Fisch Art of Medicine Student Awards.
John Song Student Awards
The Legacy of Dr. John Song
The John Song Student Awards were established in 2022 to honor the contributions and philosophy of Dr. John Song–an internal medicine physician, bioethicist, writer, and world traveler. Dr. Song was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S as a child. He studied English and Film at Brown University and even taught high school English before eventually matriculating into medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.
He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota, a bioethics fellowship at Johns Hopkins, and a Public Health fellowship. He helped found the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic and was on the board of directors for “Arm and Arm in Africa”. He spent his life blending writing, humanism, a passion for traveling, and a dedication to vulnerable populations into his medical practice. Dr. Song passed away in 2019, and according to his partner, Jen Song, there was one theme he consistently embodied: “It’s never too early to bring your whole selves to whatever you choose to do. So don’t wait until medical school is over, or residency is over; live your life now and share love in all you do.”
CFAM is honored to continue his legacy through the John Song Awards, which focus on projects at the intersection of art and advocacy/community service.
Application process:
Learn about the awards & application process
Review past application proposals
Inseparable
—a painting by Dr. Robert O. Fisch