About me
The story of
Caroline Wellbery
I have devoted much of my teaching career to the integration of art, literature, and medicine. As a family doctor, I am keenly interested in the human condition in all its variations and vibrancy, and like many other doctor-writers, I find that so much of what I have learned comes from what my patients have taught me.
Prior to my medical training, I earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. It’s no surprise that I am sometimes still teasingly called “Dr. Dr.” because of my dual degrees in literature and medicine.
After receiving my medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1991 and completing my Family Medicine residency at Community Hospital, Santa Rosa, California, I joined the Family Medicine faculty at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1994. Even though I no longer see patients, I still serve as Associate Deputy Editor of American Family Physician, the Family Medicine specialty journal that serves over 160,000 readers.
Writing Experience
Caroline Wellbery has an avid appreciation for the stories we tell. She has written many published human-interest essays. In 2023, she won second place for “A Fortunate Blunder” in a fiction writing contest sponsored by the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. She supports and advises aspiring writers and is a member of the editorial team of Broad River Review. In addition to working on her memoir, she is writing a novel about a young runaway who assumes a new identity and finds her true self.
Select Publications
Essays & Humor
- Wellbery C. Ask Me Anything. JAMA. 2022;328(17):1705–1706. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.19456
- Wellbery C. The Comfort of the Ordinary - On Dying as We've Lived. N Engl J Med. 2019 Aug 22;381(8):701-703. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1905057. PMID: 31433917.
- Wellbery C. Signs. N Engl J Med. 2017 Aug 17;377(7):609-611. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1705387. PMID: 28813224.
- Wellbery C. Our ubiquitous technology. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2012; 307:1263-1264.
- Wellbery C. Paying it forward. Pulse Magazine. October 28, 2016.
- Wellbery C. A testy experience. JAMA. 2008;300(23):2708. doi:10.1001/jama.2008.833
- Wellbery C. By the Way, Doctor. The Lancet. Volume 353, (9171), 2256.
- Wellbery C. Why I am not a Hero. The Lancet, 352, (9133), 1078.
- Wellbery C. Of Moles and Men. Of moles and men,T he Lancet, 351, (9104), 764
Washington Post
- Wellbery C. Our too-close encounter with a grizzly. My daughter and I were surprised — and so was he. March 15, 2020.
- Wellbery C. What you can do about jetlag—and gutlag. Washington Post, July 20, 2108.
- Wellbery C. We unplugged my father from everything, as he wished, but I wasn’t ready to let Go. Washington Post, June 4, 2017.
- Wellbery C. An outdoor exerciser? Here’s what your lungs probably look like. Washington Post, March 28, 2016.
- Wellbery, C. The Joys of Commuting by Bicycle. Sept 27, 2002
- Wellbery, C. Living in a Different World, March, 1999
Arts & Medicine
- Wellbery C. Art Spaces, Performances, Podcasts: Community-Building in a virtual age. Handbook of Health and Media. Eds. Friedman L, Jones T. Routledge. 2022
- Wellbery C. Can we make empathy more intelligent? Try social empathy!. Handbook of the Medical Humanities, Ed. Bleakley A, Routledge, 2018,
- Wellbery C, Mishori R. Deck the halls with diverse portraits. JAMA. 2018; 320(6): 528-530. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.11013
- Wellbery C, McAteer R. The art of observation: A pedagogical approach. Academic Medicine. 2015 Dec; 90(12): 1624-30.
- Wellbery C. Art-Science Collaborations--Avenues toward Medical Innovation. N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec 24;373(26):2495-7. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1509788. PMID: 26699165.
- Wellbery C, Chan M. White Coat, patient gown. BMJ Medical Humanities. Med Humanit. 2014 Dec; 40(2): 90-6, PMID: 24687912 DOI: 10.1136/medhum-2013-010463