AI, Empathy, and the
Art of Dialogue:
A Medical Humanities Workshop
This workshop was proudly supported by the PGME Award from the University of Toronto.
Where Human Judgment Meets AI — In the Clinical Encounter
This workshop explored how LLMs can support humanistic clinical practice through communication, reflection, and cultural understanding — without replacing the empathy and professional identity at the heart of care. The full session and the toolkit it produced are archived below.
Empathy-Centered Communication
Explore how LLMs can help translate complex clinical data — such as medical imaging reports — into culturally safe, patient-centered narratives that preserve dignity and understanding.
Interdisciplinary Dialogue
Foster intergenerational and cross-disciplinary conversation on the ethical integration of AI in clinical practice, bridging medical humanities and emerging technology.
Critical AI Evaluation
Critique AI-generated patient communications for clinical accuracy, empathetic tone, and health literacy — developing the judgment to use AI responsibly in care settings.
Empathy & AI Digital Toolkit
Co-create a practical toolkit of validated prompts for culturally safe patient communication — a lasting resource for equitable, AI-supported clinical encounters.
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Sarah Kim
Dr. Sarah Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, where she serves as Health Humanities Theme Lead for Medical Education at Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Program in Health, Arts & Humanities. As a physician, she specializes in Narrative Medicine, Sports & Exercise Medicine, and Medical Psychotherapy. Dr. Kim's work integrates the arts, humanities, mindfulness, and movement education to support resilience, ethical practice, and compassion-based care. Her scholarship examines high-performance cultures and historical understandings of the body, with particular attention to power, relationality, and humanness within industrialized systems. She is a former Lead Physician for Canada Basketball's Women's Elite Program, spending a decade traveling internationally with the National Women's Teams. Alongside her medical work, Dr. Kim is an independent dance artist and somatic arts educator with a two-decade interdisciplinary practice spanning contemporary and urban dance, circus, martial arts, improvisation, poetry, and prose. Website: www.sarahkim.org | Instagram: @sarahkim_md
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell
Pascal Tyrrell is an accomplished data scientist and the Director of Data Science at the University of Toronto's Department of Medical Imaging, within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. He also holds appointments in the Institute of Medical Science, where he serves as Director of Equity, Diversity, Indigeneity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, and in the Department of Statistical Sciences as an associate professor. He is a Community-Engaged Learning Faculty Fellow at the University of Toronto, recognizing his leadership in advancing community-engaged scholarship. He is also an Affiliate Scientist at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, contributing to interdisciplinary research at the intersection of technology, ethics, and society. His research focuses on applying cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence to medical image analysis, driving improved health outcomes globally. Additionally, Pascal is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in computer software, medical devices, and agri-tech.
What the Session Covered
By the end of the workshop, participants had developed practical frameworks at the intersection of AI, empathy, and patient-centered clinical care.
Analyze the ethical conflicts and algorithmic biases introduced by AI in clinical settings, distinguishing between risks to patient privacy and opportunities for health advocacy.
Demonstrate the use of LLMs to translate complex clinical data (e.g., highly technical Medical Imaging reports) into culturally safe, patient-centered narratives.
Critique AI-generated patient communications for clinical accuracy, empathetic tone, and health literacy appropriateness.
Formulate a personal and professional framework for maintaining humanistic, equitable patient care in an increasingly AI-mediated healthcare environment.
Workshop Structure
A focused 90-minute journey through empathy, demonstration, and clinical dialogue.
Opening & Welcome
LLMs & Medical Humanities
Live Demo: The Empathy & AI Digital Toolkit
Small Group Clinical Scenarios
Large Group Debrief, Q&A & Open Discussion
Closing Remarks & Networking
Prompting for Empathy — Now Open to Everyone
During the workshop we walked through our curated AI toolkit live, showing how the quality of a prompt directly shapes the quality of a clinical conversation. The toolkit is now openly available — see how small changes in phrasing can transform a technical medical exchange into a compassionate, patient-centered one.
Side-by-side prompt comparisons showing how different approaches yield outputs that vary in empathy, cultural safety, and patient-centeredness.
Ready-to-use prompt templates for translating imaging reports, navigating difficult conversations, and communicating across health literacy levels.
A take-home Empathy & AI guide co-created with participants during the session, shared openly after the event.
Live DemoMissed It? Watch the Full Session
The complete recording of the June 22, 2026 workshop — including the live toolkit demo — is available to watch in full.