Medical Humanities & Creative Writing · Stanford University · Est. 2008
A community of physicians and physicians-in-training at Stanford who gather to workshop their creative writing — and find their voice on the page.
Who We Are
Pegasus Physician Writers was founded in 2008 when six physicians at Stanford Medical Center — including Irvin D. Yalom, MD — formed a writers' group, meeting monthly to share and critique each other's work. What began as a small gathering has grown into a vibrant community spanning students, residents, fellows, and faculty.
Modeled on the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Pegasus offers small, intensive, ongoing workshops where physician-writers develop their craft across poetry, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, and educational writing for the public.
Our mission is to humanize medicine through the craft of writing — fostering emerging voices at every stage of a medical career, and providing the community, skills, resources, and support needed for a path toward publication.
Over the past decade, Pegasus members have collectively published nearly 100 books, broadening public understanding of the science and art of medicine.
Director
Jennifer Pien, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.
jennpien.com →100+
Books Published
2008
Year Founded
Monthly
Workshops
All
Career Stages
Our Mission
Craft
Workshop-based training in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, and educational writing — grounded in the Iowa Writers' Workshop model.
Community
A welcoming space for physicians at every stage — from first-year medical students to emeritus faculty — to write, share, and grow together.
Publication
Resources, mentorship, and partnerships with publishers and literary organizations to help physician-writers reach a wider audience.
What We Offer
Core Program
Small, intensive, ongoing workshops in the Stanford area where members share and critique each other's creative writing. Open to physicians, residents, fellows, medical students, and faculty across all career stages and genres.
Annual Award
Open to undergraduate and medical students, house staff, and fellows. Recognizes an exceptional essay or creative work — poetry, fiction, or nonfiction — describing an experience with medicine as a doctor, trainee, or patient.
Workshop Series
A dedicated workshop series designed to center and empower marginalized voices within the literary community — examining prose from underrepresented writers and providing space for students to produce and share their own work.
Student Program
Stanford undergraduate students can apply through the Stanford Immersion in Medicine Series to shadow Pegasus Physician Writer members — observing psychiatric evaluations of pediatric patients at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Throughout the Year
Recurring
Members read from their published and in-progress work at the Stanford Bookstore, bringing physician voices directly to the public.
Annual · November
A joint poetry and music event with the St. Lawrence String Quartet — an evening at the intersection of medicine, literature, and performance.
Jan · Mar · Jul · Oct
Regular campus events throughout the year exploring the context of medicine, the meaning of doctoring, health care, and the human condition.
Writing & Publishing
Member Publications
Pegasus members write and publish across every genre — poetry, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, and educational texts — with the intent to broaden public understanding of the science and art of medicine. Over the past decade, the group has collectively published nearly 100 books.
View Publications →Literary Journal
An online literary journal publishing essays and narratives at the intersection of health care, illness, and the human condition. A founding collaboration with the Oxford Review of Books × Stanford and Bellevue Literary Press.
Read the Review →