Dr. Alice Weaver Flaherty, - “Theatrical Medicine?: Empathy, Performance, and the Art of the Cure"

Please join us, and encourage student attendance, for the annual “Humanities at Work” lecture, which will be given by Dr. Alice Weaver Flaherty on Wednesday October 30 at 6pm in the Kelley Center Presentation Room . Her talk is entitled “Theatrical Medicine?: Empathy, Performance, and the Art of the Cure."

Dr. Flaherty (MD, Harvard; Mass Gen Hospital) is a prominent neurologist who studies the neural basis of creativity. She has authored widely popular books on the topic, including The Midnight Disease, which focuses on the compulsion to write & the experience of writer’s block. She is also an eloquent public voice in defense of the role of arts and creativity in medicine. Here’s one of her recent Ted talks:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FDHPL3WusmU

Her talk will draw from The Midnight Disease as well as new / unpublished work on the intersections between empathy, affect, performance, and medicine. Additional support for the event is provided by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Program in Health Studies, the MFA in Creative Writing, and the Core Writing Program.

The Humanities at Work initiative, developed by the Humanities Institute in 2017 in partnership with the School of Humanities, aims to showcase the crucial role of humanities education and humanistic approaches in democratic society and professional life. You can see more on the initiative, and browse its resources, by visiting  www.fairfield.edu/humanities and clicking on “Humanities at Work”.