威廉·里特，m.m.D., (M.A. ’18), looks at a painting or a sculpture of the human body by Michelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci and sees more than a famous work of art. 他看了一本医学史. 每年, he shares his insights with students at the UMKC 医学院, describing the intersection of art and medicine and how one has spurred the other throughout the centuries.

“There’s a lot of commonality between art and medicine,” 里特 said. “Just go to Michelangelo and Leonardo -- they were the first anatomists. You go back and look at a lot of their paintings, it’s all anatomy. They were the first ones to dissect the human body, so the Renaissance is really the birth of anatomy, 一切的诞生:艺术, 文科. Art history is really the crux of early medical studies, 医学思维, 解剖, 它会一直持续下去.”

 今年秋天, 里特, who also holds a master’s degree in art history from UMKC, begins his sixth year in the 医学院’s Sirridge Office of Medical Humanities and Bioethics as course director of an elective in medicine and the visual arts. 他也在春天教这门课, and serves as a docent for first- and second-year medical students.

“我们试图让它变得有趣，”里特说. “We give them a little medicine and how it ties to art history. I give them a lot of art history, actually, because I like doing it, and it’s a nice variation. It’s a way to do both art and medicine and get away from just medicine.”

医学院院长玛丽安妮杰克逊，M.D., said 里特’s work is an ideal example of what Marjorie and Bill Sirridge, 两位学校的创始讲解员, envisioned when they endowed the office in 1992 to expand humanities course offerings for both premedical students and students in UMKC’s six-year B.A./M.D. 程序.

“我非常感谢Dr. Bill 里特, whose work at our 医学院 embodies the vision of the Drs. 西里奇，”杰克逊说. “Early clinical experience in medicine is foundational to our school, 作为一年级和二年级的讲解员, Dr. 里特 teaches our students the fundamentals of medicine, but also allows them to experience the human side of medicine through the arts.”

里特 realized his interest in art and art history while he was in school. But studying to become a doctor took precedence, and college electives in art history gave way to courses leading to a degree in chemistry, 其次是医学院. 里特 graduated from Philadelphia’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College, 在1971年的托马斯·杰斐逊大学. He trained in internal medicine at Emory University, followed by a cardiology fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern.

“There wasn’t much art when I was in medical school for sure,” 里特 said.

But his passion for art never waned, even after he became entrenched in a career as a cardiologist. 一天晚上和朋友吃饭前, 一个团体的成员, who also happened to be a guide at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 带大家参观了博物馆. 里特立刻被吸引住了.

“我的眼睛真的亮了，”他说. ”我说, "我想炫耀一下莫奈的作品, stand there with a Monet and tell everybody about it and what I know about it.“我觉得这真的很酷. So I ended up joining the Nelson as a museum guide (in 2008).”

近10年来, 里特 walked the hallways of the Nelson-Atkins and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art on weekends and evenings as a guide and docent, sharing his love and knowledge of the fine arts with the museums’ visitors.

Several years ago, 里特 and his practice partner sold their cardiology practice after 30 years. With some free time, he decided to dive deeper into his art interest. 里特去了UMKC美术大楼, where he met art history professor Burton Dunbar, 谁会成为你亲密的朋友和导师. Over the next 2 1/2 years, 里特 studied art history, earning his master’s degree in 2018.

He began at the 医学院 five years ago developing the arts and medicine course and serving as a docent, a role that allows him to introduce medical students to their earliest patient encounters.

“I’d never done much teaching before — a little bit clinically — but nothing formal,” 里特 said. “事实证明，我想也许这就是我的使命. 也许我应该早点这么做.”

他对教学的热情, 就像他对艺术史的热爱一样, 开花了, and two years ago medical students honored 里特 with the Outstanding Years 1 and 2 Docent Award, given annually by students to one instructor for his or her pursuit of teaching excellence in medicine.

“I think I have a natural interest in teaching students,” 里特 said. “That’s what helps in getting along with students and being successful. 你一定是他们中的一员.”