Hosts

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School

 Symposium partners 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Harvard Art Museums & MassArt Art Museum

Background:

Founded in 2022, the Visual Arts in Healthcare Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (VAH@BWH) is a national leader in the application of visual arts to train healthcare professionals. VAH@BWH’s mission is to develop and advance visual arts-based learning experiences to cultivate empathetic, resourceful, and collaborative healthcare teams to improve patient care. Our programs help build the core skills of the healthcare professional, including detailed observation and interpretation, active listening, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, compassion, and effective bidirectional communication.

The VAH@BWH will host an international symposium, Bridging Visual Arts & Healthcare: Impact, Innovation, Research, in Boston on September 23-25, 2026 (Wednesday – Friday).  This symposium aims to build community between the visual arts and healthcare professions, educators, and artists.  Through an exchange of methodologies and emerging research, participants will share unique curricula and learn about the emerging evidence to improve healthcare professionals’ skills and effectiveness as well as positively impact patient outcomes.

Symposium Goals:

1. Learn new methods to integrate visual arts-based methodologies into health care education to improve patient and provider experiences.

2. Promote and discuss impactful research, evidence-based evaluation, and scholarship that will move the field forward

3. Foster a community of practice comprised of arts/humanities and health care educators at all levels and in all healthcare disclipines to build collaboration

4. Share knowledge, skills, resources, and tested practice-ready innovations in teaching

Symposium Format:

• Keynote speakers

• Themed panel discussions and presentations

• Hands-on workshops

• Poster session

• Art making and performances

• Interactive museum sessions

• Reception and networking opportunities

Conference Committee:

Christine Bentley, PhD (co-chair); Brooke DiGiovanni Evans, EdM (co-chair); Liz Gaufberg, MD; Joel Katz, MD; Barbara Reville, DNP; Corinne Zimmermann, MA, EdM.