John is a clinician, teacher, and researcher in childhood cancer and palliative care. He co-directed bone marrow transplant units at Case Western University and University of Florida; co-founded University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine (www.arts.ufl.edu/); and co-founded HARP, The People’s Press (www.tryhealingarts.ca), a publishing house dedicated to art and health (35 printed books + 18 e-books so far); he’s written thirteen books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. In this session, we will have a conversation about attention, creativity, observation, and care by exploring healing words rarely used by doctors.

Marilène Oliver is an Associate Professor in Art & Design whose artistic research is at a crossroads between new digital technologies, traditional print and sculpture, her finished objects bridging the virtual and the real worlds. She works with the body translated into data form in order to understand how it has become 'unfleshed', in the hope of understanding who or what it has become. Oliver uses various scanning technologies such as MRI, CT, and PET to reclaim the interior of the body and create works that allow us to materially contemplate our increasingly digitized selves. In 2018 Oliver was selected to present her research at TEDMED. Oliver leads LASERAlberta, a series of arts and science public talks affiliated with Leonardo/ ISAST. Oliver currently leads the research projects Dyscorpia: Future Intersections of the Body and Technology, Know Thyself as a Virtual Reality and is the lead of the Art & Working group for the Smartwear Revolution project. 

Daniel Laforest is a writer, researcher, translator and professor of French and media studies in the Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Department at the University of Alberta. Situated at the nexus between literary studies and medical humanities, Laforest’s research explores new frontiers. Part of his research traces the ways in which the relationship between literature and the medical humanities has evolved since the 1950s and the interconnections between these two discourses. His current funded team-project (SSHRC 2025-2028) is entitled "Fictions of Stability: Psychedelic Therapies, Literature, and the Challenges of Neurodiversity."

Christen Kong is a Registered Social Worker with a Master of Social Work specializing in Human Service Management and Leadership. As a Health Promoter at Access Alliance, she uses art-based practices to improve health outcomes for newcomer populations in Toronto. She coordinates the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) Project, a Community-Based research initiative supporting newcomer women survivors of domestic violence. She believes that arts is a health behaviour and advocates for artists to be part of the interprofessional healthcare team. Christen is actively involved in several working groups and advisory committees focused on addressing gender-based violence and newcomer health.