Interview by A. David Lewis In this discussion with award-winning comic book author Al Ewing, comics theorist and graphic medicine researcher A. David Lewis explores the growing idea that the comics medium may be drawing medicine and religion—bodily health and spiritual affairs—more closely towards each other via its superhero titles. From Ewing’s revolutionary work on […]
Latest articles
Beyond Messiaen’s Birds: The Post-Verbal World of Dementia
Article Summary by Dr. Stuart Wood Beyond Messiaen’s Birds was inspired by a realisation I had during an arts-based research workshop. The discussion was around how music therapists or other music practitioners make connections with people who are living with dementia. As I tried to put into words how we try to find music for […]
Estranged Relations: Coercion and Care in Narratives of Supported Decision-Making in Mental Healthcare
Article summary by Meredith Stone When you ask people about their experiences of coercion in 21st century mental healthcare do they speak of locked wards, seclusion, electroshock, and chemical restraint? Not always. In this article we report on a study in which we asked people who had experienced mental healthcare, either as a service user […]
Laila Eloui, Iconic Egyptian Actress, Reflects on Womanhood, Film and Social Responsibility
Interview by Dr Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent Laila Eloui has earned her iconic status and popularity in the Egyptian and Arab film industry as one of the most versatile actresses of her generation. Having started as a child performer in radio programs at the age of 7 years, she made a successful transition […]
Women, Film and Humanity
Interview with Paul Murphy, British film maker, by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent Paul Murphy is an an Irish-born, London-based award-winning film director. His ability to swap between drama and comedy in telling stories is his way of understanding our collective unconscious, and what makes human beings tick. Paul’s films tend to focus on […]
Every Woman and Girl Counts
Interview with Matt Jackson by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent In this podcast Mr Matt Jackson, director of the UK United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) talks about current health inequalities that still face girls and women on a global scale. He revists the vision and programme of action of the International Conference on Population […]
Indifference Kills
‘Colectiv’ directed by Alexander Nanau (Romania, Luxemburg 2019) ‘Colectiv’ opens the 24th edition of London Human Rights Watch Film Festival (LHRWFF) on 12 March 2020, https://ff.hrw.org/london Review by Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent ‘Medical Humanities’ online blogs In its 24th edition the London Human Rights Watch Film Festival (LFFHRW) comes back to the UK […]
“Normality is a Paved Road Comfortable to Walk But No Flowers Grow On It”
—Vincent Van Gogh ‘VOLARE’, Gabriele Salvatores (Italy, 2019) screening at the Italian Film Festival in London, Friday 6th March 2020 Film Review by Franco Ferrarini, gastroenterologist and film reviewer Vincent (Giulio Pranno), a sixteen-year-old boy affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), lives with his mother Elena (Valeria Golino) and her companion Mario (Diego Abatantuono) confined […]
Ectogenesis at Home? Artificial Wombs and Access to Care
Blog by Claire Horn In our accessibility series, Claire Horn reflects on the moral dilemmas presented by the advent of a new reproductive technology that allows for gestation outside the womb. —Cristina Hanganu-Bresch The last several years have seen significant progress toward the development of an artificial womb which would facilitate the survival […]
Mutual Agents of Change
Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Stolen Days (Il Ladro di Giorni), directed by Guido Lombardi (Italy 2019). Showing on Thursday 5th March in ‘Cinema made in Italy’, London. Stolen Days (Il Ladro di Giorni) can be seen as the story of a boy on the cusp of adolescence, […]