UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology SUMMER 2024 - Flipbook - Page 45
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
TEDx UCLA Radiation Oncology
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross of Your Brain on Art, explain our brain is a natural storyteller.
That through storytelling it’s possible for us to strengthen executive function, well-being, and foster
connection. Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale Professor, TEDx Speaker, Happiness Icon, and a featured
expert in our Spring Journal issue, believes that the number one thing we can do to feel happier is
engage in social connection. Speci昀椀cally, being open to connecting with strangers and aiming to go
deeper during conversation.
Building on these two ideas as well as Dr. Matthew Farrell and Dr. Puja Venkat’s narrative writing
workshop for medical students—where medical students who previously had their education
experience impacted by COVID wrote and shared pivotal personal experiences—we crafted a Salon
session, Let’s Get Awkward to Get More Connected, that endeavors to explore and test these theories
on story and connection while simultaneously humanizing those who heal.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a statement regarding all time high levels of loneliness
and isolation in the United States. What if we put our Featured Poet Bruce Springsteen’s artistic
repairmen idea into practice? What if through sharing story we were able to not only heal parts of
ourselves, but also others? What if harnessing story made us better practitioners through our increased
ability to listen and connect? What if storytelling has the power to help us become Springsteen’s
repairmen—to make healers out of all of us?
We hope you will join us on Saturday, October 19 to explore this compelling, story-steeped
intersection of art and science at our 昀椀rst ever TEDx Salon, Let’s Get Awkward to Get More
Connected: Humanizing Those Who Heal.
Ticket information will be announced shortly.
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