2011 Symposium
On March 11 and 12, 2011, Rhode Island School of Design opened a series of ongoing national conversations with Make It Better, a two-day symposium on art, design and the future of healthcare.
Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, this vital series of conversations brought leading artists, designers and activists together with health professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs and members of the RISD community to frame an expanded role for art and design in improving public health and the delivery of healthcare.
Make It Better looked at how artists and designers – both at RISD and elsewhere – engage with issues of health and wellness in innovative and unexpected ways. It focused on the role of these visually astute critical thinkers and problem solvers in helping to improve healthcare delivery, public health and everyday wellness.
Designed to stimulate ongoing conversations among participants and the larger fields they represent, the symposium explored how to bring more creativity to the realm of health care by expanding, collaborating on and developing new, more integrative models for art and design research. Presenters and participants addressed the need to create spaces, products, systems, policies and messages that offer fresh, effective and humane approaches to maintaining health and delivering health care.
» download a pdf of the symposium schedule
» view videos from the symposium
Keynote Speakers
Mel Chin
Artist
Mel Chin has a broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multidisciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas.
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Sara Diamond
President
OCAD University
Dr. Sara Diamond is the President of the OCAD University, Canada’s “university of the
imagination”. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and degrees in new media theory and practice, social history and communications.
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Donna Garland
Associate Director for Communication
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Donna Garland is Associate Director for Communication, CDC, and a member of the US Government Senior Executive Service.
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Raynard S. Kington
President
Grinnell College
Dr. Raynard S. Kington was appointed President of Grinnell College beginning in August, 2010. Prior to beginning his tenure at Grinnell, he was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006, serving as the chair of the Section on Administration of Health Services, Education, and Research through 2010.
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Howard K. Koh
Assistant Secretary for Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Howard K. Koh serves as the 14th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after being nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009.
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Other Presenters
Kelli Auerbach
Lecturer
Critical Studies, California Institute of the Arts
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Jay Baruch
MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Brown University
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Kelly Dobson
Assistant Professor and Interim Head
Digital Media, RISD
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Jeremy Nobel
Adjunct Faculty in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health
Founder and President of the Foundation for Art and Healing
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Aidan Petrie
Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer
Ximedica
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Benjamin Sawyer
President
DigitalMill and Founder, Games for Health
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Damon Rich
Urban Designer, City of Newark
Founder, Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
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Pam Wescott
Director of Patient Perspectives
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
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