Jillian Horton, BA, MA, MD, FRCPC (Internal Medicine)
Director
Our goals
Our programs enhance creative self-expression, critical thinking and analysis, empathy and compassion, narrative competence, deep listening, and clinical observation and reasoning skills.
We have two primary goals:
- to enhance our understanding of patient experiences around health, illness, and disability
- to support the well-being of health professionals and students
Our namesake
The Alan Klass Program in Health and Humanities honours of the late surgeon and UM faculty member Alan Klass [BA/27, MD/32, LLD/73]. The program recognizes and honours Dr. Klass for championing social justice and advocacy work in medicine.
Our team
Additional information
Dr. Jillian Horton is a general internist who serves in multiple leadership positions at University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine. This includes inaugural director of Rady Faculty of Health Science’s programs in physician and learner wellness, director of the Alan Klass Health Humanities Program and associate chair of the department of internal medicine.
Horton previously served as the associate dean of undergraduate student affairs at the Max Rady College of Medicine.
She has won numerous awards for mentorship, professionalism, and teaching.
She is also an accomplished musician and writer. She published her bestselling memoir We Are All Perfectly Fine in 2021.
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Charlene Diehl, BSc, MA, PhD (English)
Creative Director
Additional information
Dr. Charlene Diehl is a writer, editor, performer, former English professor and long-time arts administrator.
She completed her PhD in English at the University of Manitoba under the mentorship of Robert Kroetsch, taught at the University of Waterloo for most of a decade, then returned to the prairies. In 2003, she became the Artistic Director and then Executive Director of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, now known as Plume Winnipeg, retiring at the end of 2025. In 2019, she was honoured with the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making a Difference Award for her contributions to the local arts community in that role.
Diehl has published poetry, personal and academic essays, book and music reviews, and a memoir, Out of Grief, Singing: a memoir of motherhood and loss, which was shortlisted for two Manitoba Book Awards. She co-edited a jazz magazine for a dozen years, and is currently the producer of the Izzy Asper Jazz Performances, Winnipeg’s boutique jazz series. Her newest venture as Creative Director of the Alan Klass Program in Health and Humanities at the U of M’s Max Rady College of Medicine, allows her to share her passion for the arts with the extended health care community.
Contact us
Dr. Charlene Diehl, PhD
Creative Director
Alan Klass Program in Health Humanities