Revealing Migraine through Art & Science

In this session we will explore the relationship between Art & Science through the lens of Migraine. The session is extremely relevant for anyone who suffers from Migraine, but the lessons are applicable to any discipline.

Migraine is degenerative neurological condition experienced by 18% of women and 6% of men on average. While commonly discussed as a headache, Migraine is actually a very complex condition that can disrupt the brain and body in countless ways.

The past 10 years has been amazing for research on Migraine. Scientists have a comprehensive understanding of the condition and new treatments are actively in development that could significantly improve the situation for many sufferers.

That said what the scientists have found could have been discovered sooner had they considered the work of artists suffering from the condition. Artworks depicting the condition going back over a hundred years contained much of what was needed to reach the answers we have today. Yet artwork was dismissed as an input to the scientific process due to its subjective nature.

Migraine is a perfect example of where the failure of Art & Science to collaborate for cultural reasons resulted directly in human suffering. My hope is that in the future it can also be an example of where Art & Science work together to quickly aid the hundreds of millions of people suffering world wide from this condition.

60 minute talk followed by 30 minutes of discussion.