Dr Melanie Cheng - The Medical Muse

Welcome to the Academy MEE Webinar!

We’re delighted to present a thoughtful and reflective session with Dr Melanie Cheng – an award-winning author and general practitioner whose work bridges medicine and the literary world. In this webinar, “The Medical Muse”, Melanie explores the relationship between clinical practice and creative expression, offering insight into how medicine can inform storytelling, and how writing can deepen our understanding of the human experience.

Drawing on her acclaimed body of work, including Australia Day, Room for a Stranger, and The Burrow, Melanie brings a unique perspective on observation, empathy, and narrative in both medicine and literature. This session invites health professionals to consider the role of creativity in their own work – and the value of storytelling in making sense of the lives we encounter.

ACADEMY MEE WEBINAR
Topic | The Medical Muse
Guest speaker | Dr Melanie Cheng
Date | Wednesday 6 May at 7.30pm – 8.30pm (AEST) via Zoom

Meeting Host | Dr Tony Chu

About Our Presenter: 

Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner based in Melbourne. Her first book, Australia Day, won the 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. Her novel, Room for a Stranger, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and her most recent work, The Burrow, was shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize and nominated for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award.

Her non-fiction has been published in The Age, The Guardian, and The Weekend Australian among others.

In 2021 she was the health columnist for The Saturday Paper and she is a guest lecturer at the Narrative Medicine elective for medical students studying at the University of Melbourne.