Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
Tuesday 22 September 2026 | 1:30 - 5:30PM Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, 10012
Join us for the launch of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab - Lancet Collection on Arts and Health, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Presented as part of NYU’s Arts and Impact initiative and UNGA Healing Arts Week 2026.
This landmark Collection in the world’s leading medical journal brings together the science of how engagement in the arts can advance health and wellbeing—from universal cultural exposure and early development, to population-level prevention, evidence-informed arts interventions, and individualized creative arts therapies—and translates this evidence into practical pathways for policy and practice.
The event will feature a special performance and presentation by internationally acclaimed musical artist Jon Batiste, joined by music therapist Joanne Loewy, Founding Director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mt Sinai. Together, they will explore how music can move from inspiration to practice as a powerful pathway for connection, healing, and wellbeing.
The program will also bring together global leaders across the arts, neuroscience, public health, medicine, and the creative arts therapies to explore how research, investment, and cross-sector collaboration can shape more equitable, humane, and effective systems of health and care.
The Jameel Arts & Health Lab–Lancet Collection on Arts and Health was led by Prof. Nisha Sajnani, NYU Steinhardt Professor and founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and Dr. Nils Fietje, WHO Technical Officer and founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with an international network of researchers, artists, and practitioners.
Photo Credit: Well-Being Concert (2023), photographed by Fadi Kheir at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, USA; courtesy of Fadi Kheir for Carnegie Hall
Jon Batiste is a seven-time Grammy, Academy, and Emmy Award–winning singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist, renowned for his genre-defying approach to music and his commitment to inclusivity and cultural exploration.
Photo Credit: Jon Batiste at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. Courtesy of Sing for Hope.
Joanne Loewy DA, LCAT, MT-BC is the founding Director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System which serves musicians to address chronic fatigue, chemical dependency, performance anxiety and overuse. It also serves children with developmental delays, teens with emotional concerns, adults with neurological disorders and all ages of patients with asthma and COPD.
Nisha Sajnani, PhD., RDT-BCT is a Professor at NYU Steinhardt, Director of the NYU Program in Drama Therapy and Theatre & Health Lab; Director of the Arts & Health @ NYU, and Founding Co-Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab. She leads a global network of researchers engaged at the intersection of arts, culture, and health and led the Lab-Lancet Collection on Arts and Health.
Nils Fietje, PhD is a founder of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab and Technical Officer within the Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI) Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe where he is leading efforts to understand how cultural contexts affect and interact with health and wellbeing across the lifespan and throughout the continuum of care. Dr. Fietje co-led the Lab-Lancet Collection on Arts and Health.
AZA Allsop, M.D/PhD is an artist, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, at the Yale School of Medicine and Howard University, whose work integrates neuroscience, music mindfulness, and psychedelic science to explore the foundations of social connection and collective healing. Dr. Allson is an affiliated researcher with the Jameel Arts & Health Lab.
Daisy Fancourt, PhD is Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL. She is the author of the Times bestseller Art Cure and chair of the steering committee at the Jameel Arts & Health Lab. Daisy is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Arts and Health and UNESCO Chair in Arts and Global Health.
Agustín Ibáñez, PhD is a psychologist trained in electrophysiology at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. He is a full professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), founder and co-director of the Dementia Research Latin American Consortium (ReDLat), director of the Programme in Global Brain Health Research (IPGBHR) at the GBHI in Trinity College, and Co-Chair of the Nature Medicine Commission on Brain Health and Economic Resilience.
Jill Sonke, PhD, is a US Cultural Policy Fellow with Stanford University serving in appointments at the National Academy of Medicine and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She is also Director of Research Initiatives and a Research Professor in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida; and Co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab in partnership with University College London. She is an affiliated researcher in the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and is an editorial board member for Health Promotion Practice journal.
Alana Jackson is a multimodal performing artist, strategist, and award-winning educator who bridges the arts, entertainment, and public health. Her work elevates creative expression as a powerful tool for agency and resilience, reaching audiences from hospitals and schools to community stages around the world.
