Burnett School of Medicine Sculpture Reflects Students’ Journey to Become Physicians
The sculpture called "Journey" has become a gathering place for students, faculty and staff at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
FORT WORTH – Every time second-year medical student Sereen Osman walks through the stainless steel, satin-polished sculpture on her way to Arnold Hall, she feels nostalgic.
“I just like being able to look at it; it’s very beautiful, visually pleasing, and also it feels very sentimental,” she said. “It really is just a representation of how far I’ve come throughout the years.”
The sculpture is called “Journey,” and has become a gathering place for students, faculty and staff at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
“It’s like they froze a metal wave in time,” said Zach Ismaio, MS-3, at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “It’s a pretty cool sculpture, especially because you get to be close to it and see its relative size.”
Most sculptures are admired from afar. With Journey, one can walk through it: The steel bends into an actual passage, and that’s the point. It’s meant to mirror what medical students go through, a path that’s winding, sometimes uncertain, yet always moving forward.
The sculpture, which was unveiled June 24, 2025, at Arnold Hall’s one-year anniversary, is in the shape of an Iris. The flower symbolizes growth, courage, and wisdom. The design also references “mirror neurons,” the brain cells tied to empathy, which aligns with Burnett School of Medicine at TCU’’s mission to inspire Empathetic Scholars®.
“I feel like it’s a nice representation of some of the medical students that go here every day and walk past it,” Ismaio said. “All of us have very different experiences and kinds of journeys to medicine, and it’s a nice reminder every day when you walk into the building.”