Cultura e Salute - Healing words

From October to December 2023, for seven Mondays, leading figures from the world of science and professors from the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at USI, coordinated by Prof. Enzo Grossi, will discuss seven topics linking words to medicine and wellbeing. This is what is proposed by "Healing Words", the third edition of the "Cultura e Salute" course promoted by USI Faculty of Biomedical Sciences with the Culture Division of the City of Lugano and IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research, which this year sees the artistic collaboration of Lugano's LAC. The seven thematic lectures, open to the public, will take place from Monday, 16 October to Monday, 11 December, in the East Campus Lugano multipurpose room from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.

The lectures are open to students and PhD students from the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and the Faculty of Communication, Culture, and Society at USI, as well as anyone interested. Each lecture will start with a keynote speech by an international guest speaker, who will present their experience and expertise on the lecture's theme. This will be followed by a discussion where one or more field experts will participate as discussants.

Course structure

The USI Cultura e salute course for 2023 focuses on the so-called field of Medical Humanities, which is defined as the "cultural medicine" by Bernegger and Malacrida. This course provides valuable support to health professionals in achieving the goals of medicine through the use of complementary tools. Narrative, in all its forms, is one of the most prominent tools among them. Therefore, the course has been titled "Healing Words".

Healing words are those of the patient who tells his own story to the caregiver, taking shape in narrative medicine; they are also the words of a writer, who turns into parental reading as a support to neurodevelopment in paediatric age or as a tool to prevent cognitive impairment in old age. Other words are those of individuals who write about themselves, in other words, expressive writing, and those who become actors on stage to share their emotions, in other words, theatre therapy.

For each of these narrative modes, a large volume of scientific evidence attests to their usefulness for human health. Distinguished scientists will take turns illustrating the subject in six appointments, preceded by an opening lecture on the basic concept for the entire discipline of Culture and Health: mind-body unity.

Accompanying the course will be seven readings on the subject selected in collaboration with the Fondazione Sasso Corbaro, revised by playwriter Riccardo Favaro and staged by Carmelo Rifici, artistic director of the LAC, thanks to the voices of leading actors.

The lessons will be held in Italian and English with simultaneous translation in both languages and will be recorded and published online at the end of the course.

Attending all meetings:

• Students of the USI Master of Medicine will be granted 1 ECTS (elective course) following the submission of a final report, based on specific topics specified in the course outline (on iCourses);
• PhD students in the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences will be able to obtain 0.5 ECTS;
• Students in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes of the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society will be able to obtain 1 ECTS;

Lectures programme

• Monday, 16 October
  Mind-Body Unity. How emotions change our organism
  Speaker: Enzo Grossi, physician, surgeon, lecturer, and expert researcher on culture and health (I)
  Discussion with: Giovanni Pedrazzini, Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences USI (CH) and Roberto Malacrida, Director of the journal Medical Humanities Fondazione Sasso Corbaro (CH)
  Reading interpreted by Anahi Traversi

• Monday, 30 October     
  Parental reading as a boost for child neurodevelopment 
  Speaker: Perri Klass, Professor of Journalism and Paediatrics at New York University (USA)
  Discussion with: Oskar Jenni, Director of the Child Development Centre and Professor of Developmental Paediatrics at the University of Zurich (CH)
  Reading interpreted by Mariangela Granelli

   

• Monday, 06 November     
  The value of reading in the prevention of frailty in people with mild cognitive impairment
  Speaker: Maurizio Gallucci, Director of the Cognitive Disorders and Dementia Centre of Azienda ULSS2 Marca Trevigiana (I)
  Discussion with: Antonio Malgaroli, Full Professor at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele and USI (CH). 
  Reading interpreted by Camilla Semino Favro
   
• Monday, 13 November     
  Expressive writing: an effective therapy 
  Speaker: James Pennebaker, Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin (USA)
  Discussion with: Marta Fadda, Researcher at the Institute of Public Health USI (CH)
  Reading interpreted by Igor Horvat
   
• Monday, 27 November   
  Narrative medicine for a new doctor-patient relationship 
  Speaker: Rita Charon, Professor of Medicine and Chair of Humanities Medicine and Ethics at Columbia University (USA)
  Discussion with: Pietro Majno-Hurst, Full Professor of Surgery USI and Medical Director EOC (CH)
  Reading interpreted by Fausto Cabra
•  
• Monday, 04 December   
  Digital narratives: practices and challenges
  Speaker: Cristina Cenci, Anthropologist and Founder of the Centre for Digital Health Humanities (I) 
  Discussion with: Maddalena Fiordelli, Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Public Health USI (CH).
  Reading interpreted by Federica Fracassi

   

• Monday, 11 December   
  Theatre as a resource for individual wellbeing and social cohesion 
  Speaker: Lorenzo Donati, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences and Research Fellow, Department of the Arts, University of Bologna (I)
  Discussion with: Mauro Manconi, Professor of Neurology at USI and University of Bern (CH).
  Reading interpreted by Giovanni Crippa

Lectures will be held in Italian and English, with simultaneous translation into Italian.

The lectures will be recorded and published online at the end of the course.