Dr. Susan Ball is professor emerita of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell and is currently teaching clinical medicine at the City University of New York School of Medicine as a clinical professor where she is also the director of medical humanities. Dr. Ball is a former HIV specialist with a master's degree from Columbia in Narrative Medicine. During her 30 years at Weill Cornell, Dr. Ball developed and taught numerous courses in narrative medicine and was co-faculty advisor for the literary journal Ascensus. Dr. Ball is twice the recipient of the Leonard Tow award for Humanism in Medicine at Weill Cornell and is currently a fellow in leadership for the Alpha Omega Alpha Society.  In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is engaged in enhancing the humanities and humanism curriculum at the CUNY School of Medicine.