About Melanie Jansen

A woman with long dark hair sitting at a wooden table, reading and writing in a notebook, with several books and a phone in front of her, in a plain white room.

Melanie has written poems for as long as she can remember. Poetry helps to make sense and meaning of all the rich pieces that make up a human life – love, friendship, motherhood, crisis, beauty, loss, and hope.

For Melanie, writing poetry is a necessary process for making sense of her work as a doctor in intensive care. She is also an ethicist, and uses poetry to illuminate the deep questions in philosophy. She loves poetry because it pries open spaces for reflection. Poetry can fit into the contours of a day. Read over morning coffee, at the start of a ward round, in a quiet moment between meetings or chores, to find solace in a book kept beside the bed to dip into at night.

Poetry is for everyone - poems always surface in the torque points of our lives: weddings, birthdays, funerals, graduations, baptisms. It has the power to connect us in one brief moment.

Woman sitting on a curved beige chair reading a book in a bright room with white walls and a window.

Melanie is an engaging and thought provoking speaker who is often invited to speak at conferences and other events. She is passionate about broadening medical education by meaningfully engaging with the arts. She is also available to speak or to facilitate workshops at corporate events.