UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine

04/21/2026

04/20/2026

Happy National Volunteer Week!

Each year, Arts in Medicine welcomes a cohort of volunteers and students to assist with arts engagements and programming here at UF Health 🧡

About AIM Volunteers:
Around 75% of these specially selected individuals are pursuing healthcare careers, with nearly half planning to become physicians or explore healthcare avenues in pre-medical studies! 🏥
Additionally, 15% are drawn to therapy disciplines including music, art, occupational, and physical therapy, while 5% plan to continue in Arts in Health practice 🎨🎶🩰

During their time with AIM, the cohort assists our program with extending the reach and impact of our mission. To do this, our volunteers and practicum students serve the hospital and Gainesville communities by assisting AIM’s team of practitioners with a variety of creative engagements:

🎨 assisting AIM visual artists with inpatient bedside referrals
🖌️ supporting patients, care partners, and artists during visual art workshops in the hospital
🎶 providing live music in the hospital atriums and tunnel
🩰 assisting AIM dancers with facilitating movement workshops for individuals with a range of health conditions
👏 and much more!

AIM thanks all volunteers, past and present, pictured and not pictured, for their dedication and passion for furthering the arts in health here at UF Health and beyond! 💙

04/15/2026

Congratulations to one of AIM's stellar volunteers and practicum students, Alex Tsai, for receiving an Outstanding Service-Learning Award from the University of Florida! 👏

Out of 126 students who received the presidential service award in 2026, only six receive this additional recognition. AIM is proud of Alex and his incredible dedication to serving the UF Health patients beyond the expectations of a UF course or service-learning site.

Thank you, Alex, for offering your skills as a visual artist to serve the patients, families, and staff at UF Health Shands Hospital. We look forward to witnessing your continued impact on your community through the arts in health! 🎨

04/14/2026

🎥 Missed Webinar 3 in our Arts in Health series? Watch the replay on YouTube!

Featuring practitioners and researchers at the intersection of arts and health, this conversation highlights real-world programs using dance, visual art, and community-based initiatives to reduce social isolation, encourage behavior change, and build resilience across the lifespan.

✨ Learn how creativity supports better health outcomes
✨ Explore the role of equity and cross-sector collaboration
✨ Discover sustainable, community-driven approaches

Whether you're an artist, healthcare professional, researcher, or simply curious about innovative approaches to wellness, this webinar offers valuable insights into building healthier, more connected communities.

Watch now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqPFdS4xxH4&t=2382s

UF College of the Arts, UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine

04/10/2026

💙 April is Autism Awareness Month! 💙 We want to celebrate Kinsey, one of our Children's Miracle Network ambassadors at UF Health Shands Children's Hospital, who uses art as a form of expression.

At a young age, Kinsey was diagnosed autism, several learning disabilities and a rare, life-threatening genetic disease that causes small blood clots in small blood vessels, resulting in damage to her kidneys. In 2015, she underwent a successful kidney transplant and started a new journey. After several years, the transplant began to fail.

Today, Kinsey is back on dialysis and embracing her artistic side with UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine. In 2021, her artwork was brought to life through her coloring book, "My Vibrant Island." 🎨 She says life is about making memories. Her art accomplishments rival her magical moments at Walt Disney World as some of her favorites!

04/08/2026

Jessica Thornton, 41, has undergone chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation at UF Health's Medical Plaza to treat her stage 4 colorectal cancer. But according to her, she doesn't let these challenging treatments dull her creative spark ✨

"Having a creative outlet, and regular opportunities to create with Arts in Medicine, reminds me that my cancer treatment isn't all I do or all that I am," said Jessica of her art-making practice that she says supports her wellbeing.

Jessica also shared how important it is for people to know her age & diagnosis as an encouragement to get screened, because, she says, "if it's caught early, there is a lot that can be done to help."

04/08/2026

04/07/2026

How are you celebrating? 🤔

Our dedicated Shift Change Radio Hour volunteers asked healthcare workers for songs with poetic lyrics. 🎶

Discover their picks tomorrow, 4/8, on Shift Change Radio Hour, AIM's radio program showcasing healthcare workers’ song requests, testimonies, dedications/shout-outs, and exciting patient and AIM spotlights.
Listen in on the radio, Wednesdays from 6-7am and 6-7pm on The Wombat: WMBT 90.1 FM!

Also, you're invited to a special art pop-up and poetry reading! Join us and our friends at Streetlight on Thursday, 4/9, from 4-6PM as we honor and celebrate poetry written by sickle cell warriors with "I AM WARRIOR". Check out the flyer for details!

04/06/2026

Join UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine and Streetlight for this week's art pop-up, "I Am... Warrior" ❤️

Featuring a special poetry book written by Sickle Cell Warriors at UF Health that honor their real, lived experiences living with sickle cell.

Also on display will be artworks made in response to the powerful poems, each created by a UF student. 🎨

Join us this Thursday, April 9th, from 4-6PM in the Criser Cancer Resource Center (Room 1302). Located in the UF Health Cancer Hospital (1515 SW Archer Rd) on the first floor near Admissions.

04/06/2026

ATTN: photographers, artists, healthcare professionals, first responders, researchers, students, patients, and caregivers,

This open call invites you to submit photo and graphic works that explore the human, sensory, and technological realities of intensive care environments. 🏥🚑

Selected works will be curated for inclusion in the upcoming book Arts in Intensive Care, led by Mark ZY Tan and Michael Koon Boon Tan.
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2026
📩 Submit to: mtan@nafa.edu.sg
📌 Include up to 3 images, titles, and a 150–250 word artist statement.

Check out the post for more information.

📸 Photo Open Call | Illuminating Care | How can art reveal what is felt, sensed, and lived within intensive care?

This project invites photographers, artists, healthcare professionals, researchers, students, patients, and caregivers to submit photo and graphic works that explore the human, sensory, and technological realities of intensive care environments.

Moving beyond clinical documentation, this project reimagines intensive care as more than a biomedical space—it is an emotional and relational landscape shaped by vulnerability, compassion, interdependence, and the unseen labor of caregiving.

We welcome documentary or conceptual works that explore themes such as:
💡 The five senses in intensive care
💻 Human–machine relationships and care technologies
🖼️ The spatial and emotional landscapes of care
🫂 Compassion, dignity, recovery, and end-of-life
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Family presence and absence
⏰ Time, uncertainty, and resilience

Selected works will be curated for inclusion in the upcoming book Arts in Intensive Care, led by Mark ZY Tan and Michael Koon Boon Tan.

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2026
📩 Submit to: mtan@nafa.edu.sg
📌 Include up to 3 images, titles, and a 150–250 word artist statement.

UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine, UF Health

04/02/2026

Congratulations to visual artist and Arts in Medicine practitioner, Leslie Tharp, on receiving this year's Public Art Award from the City of Gainesville! 📣

04/02/2026

A new article from Reasons to be Cheerful highlights how creative practices are increasingly recognized as powerful tools for health, and spotlights the groundbreaking work happening at UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine.

At UF Health, artists work alongside clinicians to support patients through music, visual arts, movement, and storytelling- often through referrals written directly into patient charts. In 2025 alone, the program facilitated more than 13,000 arts engagements with patients, demonstrating how creativity can complement medical care and help people find connection, meaning, and relief during difficult moments.

We’re proud to see this work recognized as part of a growing movement showing that access to the arts can be a powerful determinant of health and wellbeing. 🎨

Read the story here: https://reasonstobecheerful.world/art-for-health/