Author: awbai

By: Rod Hanners

How the Institute for Arts in Medicine reduces stress and depression and encourages self-expression.

After Heaven Wright was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, she spent almost five months at USC Norris Cancer Hospital waiting for and recovering from a bone marrow transplant. One of the hardest challenges for the 30-year-old single mom was being separated from her 10-year-old daughter, Monroe, who was living out of town with Heaven’s mother while Heaven was being treated.

“My little girl is everything to me,” she says. “I felt stripped of being a mother.”

The Institute for Arts in Medicine (I_AM), a Keck Medicine of USC healing arts initiative, devised an innovative way to bring mom and daughter together and lift Heaven’s spirits: through song…

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The Healing Power of Arts for our Cancer Patients – Keck Medicine of USC: CEO Corner- The Healing Power of Arts for our Cancer Patients

By: Rachel B. Levin

Art has been used as an adjunct to medical treatment since ancient times. But in the past few decades, a growing body of research has confirmed that viewing and creating art can benefit patients’ physical and mental well-being. The Healing Arts Program is among a robust collection of USC programs that combines the arts with medicine in creative and evidence-based ways to comfort patients and support their healing.

Fighting cancer with creativity

At the Institute for Arts in Medicine (I_AM) at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, a wide range of expressive arts programming aims to improve clinical outcomes for patients…

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Using art for medical healing – USC Today: USC Today- Using art for medical healing