Myles Ringel studied Dialogue, Health and Society at VU Amsterdam.
Name: Myles Ringel
Age: 23
DHS cohort: 2025-2026
Bachelor’s programme: Empathy in Practice, Brown University, USA
Current job/study/position: Medical Scribe at Emergency Department, applying to Medical School in the United States.
Why did you choose Dialogue, Health and Society at VU Amsterdam?
As an undergraduate, I studied empathy in the social sciences and the humanities to understand how its presence, and especially how its absence, shapes our lived experiences. I was particularly interested in how members of the helping professions, like doctors and social workers, navigate their empathy for their patients. After graduating, I remained curious as to how empathy and compassion are enacted within the clinical encounter. Dialogue, Health and Society was the perfect program to pursue these interests further by allowing me to investigate how language mediates social action.
How do you look back on your study time there?
I look back at my time in Amsterdam with fondness. Beyond the opportunity to immerse myself in a new research method, I did my best to take advantage of all the city had to offer, from the wonderful bakery just a five-minute bike away from the VU to performances at the Concertgebouw and community ceramics classes.
What did you like best about Dialogue, Health and Society? And did you encounter any difficulties?
As a small program, DHS offers exceptionally strong advising support. I also felt a propelling energy at times, when I would be reminded of how new conversation analysis is (relatively speaking) and how many questions are still unanswered.
I faced some difficulty when it came to my thesis project. While there were many Dutch data sets to choose from that centered on clinical interactions, there were none available in English. I was able to work with the faculty to reach out to professors in the U.S. and elsewhere to find the appropriate data.
What was your favourite course, period or groundbreaking insight while studying Dialogue, Health and Society?
My favorite course was the thesis. I came to this program with a specific goal and felt I made significant headway toward those ends. My project specifically centered around how breast cancer surgeons attempt to reassure their patients about the side effects of certain hormone treatments. Across a sample of 10 providers, I found that some of the most common strategies were not treated as being reassuring by the patient. If I were to redo the thesis, I would integrate statistical analysis to tie the providers' specific communicative practices (e.g. 'the benefits outweigh the risks') with patient outcomes.
