Ted Meyer has experienced the healthcare system as a chronic patient, and made art about his life since his earliest hospital stays. His art has expressed the ever-changing experience of the patient, from pain, to health, to recovery, and to recurrence. 

He's communicated the narratives of hundreds of scarred individuals through his twenty-year series "Scarred for Life: Every Scar Tells a Story". 

Ted began curating the work of patient-artists like himself, and began to to give work about illness a platform while at UCLA.

As the Artist in Residence, Ted uses personal narrative, scar stories and the art work of a talented group of patient-artists to teach medical students about the lived experience of chronic illness at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. 

Ted has spoken to groups at NIH, National Museum of Health and Medicine, Yale, UCLA, USC and NYU Medical Schools, Collaborating Across Borders Conference. TEDMED

---

Some of our swat team members at the Nexus Summit with
​Prof. Cohen of UNE

What if you attended a medical convention, but no one mentioned actual patients?
When members of Art and Med were invited to medical conventions, we were shocked to find no reference to real life patients with real life issues. We heard industry professionals address working together, delivery of services, financials, etc., but in each instance, workshops “treated” standardized patients, often in worst-case scenarios, rather than real people.  

Art and Med has developed a roving Swat Team to insure medical gatherings stay true to patient needs. Art and Med’s patient experts interact with your healthcare provider population, take your workshops and classes, and then report back with real-world, patient-centric suggestions, and a dose of reality.   
​
What's it like when billing goes haywire? How do patients deal with family priorities versus simple medical tests? What about when life throws in extra curve balls? Events that don’t cause problems for a healthy person can wreak havoc on a patient trying to get treatment. Art and Med’s Swat Team has experienced it all, and we want to share with your people.