Tight-knit community
On a chilly October afternoon, eight Pitt Med students sat around an array of yarn in Alda Maria Gonzaga’s (MD ’00, Res ’04, MS ’06) living room. They drifted between tranquil focus on knitting or crocheting and lively conversations that ranged from their favorite forms of dance to plans for the flex weeks built into the curriculum as a break amid heavy coursework.
Knitt Med, the student-run textile art club at Pitt Med, draws aspiring MDs who want to take time in their busy schedules to decompress with some D.I.Y. Gonzaga, associate dean for student affairs and professor of medicine and pediatrics, serves as the group’s adviser.
First active from 2018 to 2020, Knitt Med was revived in 2023 by current copresidents Lily Bessette (Class of ‘30) and Siddhi Shockey (Class of ‘26), who saw an opportunity to build a crafty community with peers.
“It’s really nice because it feels like the opposite of what I’m doing in my day-to-day med school life, where I’m trying to be efficient and work very quickly,” says Knitt Med treasurer Julia Bulova (Class of ’26).
At Knitt Med, she says, “you are working for very long periods of time on something that can feel very monotonous. But I think that’s actually kind of satisfying and very stress relieving.”
Knitt Med began largely as a community outreach project in 2018 led by Ruby Holland and BaDoi Phan (who’ve both received PhDs and are pursuing MDs through the Medical Scientist Training Program) with Alexa Jordahl
(MD ’21).
“We wanted to come up with an opportunity that would allow people to use their creative interests to serve the medical community,” says Holland. Coordinating with UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, they’d often knit with patients.
The reinstated Knitt Med is recapturing that community connection. They have knitted and crocheted with residents at Moorhead Tower Apartments, housing designed for the visually impaired, the elderly and people with disabilities. The group also has budding connections with UPMC hospitals.
With plans to create and sell crafts to raise funds for health-related causes, Knitt Med’s leadership hopes newcomers will be excited to support patient communities in need. Says Shockey, “Come with whatever skill level you have and create—and hopefully create a little change along the way, too.”