Dr. Wilma Bulkin Siegel
Wilma Bulkin Siegel, M.D., is a distinguished oncologist, artist, and advocate whose multifaceted career has left an indelible mark on medicine and the arts.
A 1958 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she earned her medical degree in 1962 from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Siegel’s pioneering work in New York City included establishing one of New York State’s first hospices. This trailblazing effort provided compassionate care to AIDS patients during the early years of the epidemic.
As Medical Director, her expertise earned her an invitation to advise the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic in Washington, D.C., contributing to national AIDS policy.
After retiring from medicine, Dr. Siegel pursued her lifelong passion for painting, honing her skills at the National Academy of Design. She became an award-winning artist, known for powerful series that depict social realism and the human experience, including Faces for Human Rights, Holocaust Survivors and Liberators, Returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, Children of the Modern Family, and The Changing Faces of AIDS.
Her work, exhibited nationwide, garnered recognition on CNN for her AIDS series and inclusion in Who’s Who in American Art (2001).
Dr. Siegel has seamlessly integrated her medical and artistic expertise to pioneer art in healthcare, developing programs at the University of Miami and Columbia Medical Center in New York City. These initiatives enable artists to collaborate with patients and teach medical students to cultivate empathy and observation through art.
She serves on the Advisory Council of Columbia Medical Center and the School of Nursing at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In 2006, Drexel awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, and she delivered the commencement address.
In 2009, she received the prestigious Janice Palmer Award from the Society of Arts in Healthcare for her transformative contributions to the field. In 2023, Dr. Siegel was honored with the Human Rights Friendly Award from International Solidarity for Human Rights (ISHR), recognizing her impactful advocacy through her Faces for Human Rights series. This series was recently exhibited internationally in Andorra and Spain (2024).
Dr. Siegel continues to promote art as a tool for healing and education, connecting medicine and human experience with unwavering dedication. Her Smart Salons represent this mission—interdisciplinary workshops that foster creative thinking and merge art with healing and education, showcasing her dual expertise as a physician and artist. These salons serve as collaborative spaces for artists, healthcare professionals, and community members, emphasizing communication, compassion, and creativity, which are fundamental principles of Siegel’s philosophy.
In 2025, Dr. Wilma Bulkin Siegel enthusiastically continues painting while embarking on innovative new projects.
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