Art & Healthcare with Janani Balasubramanian & Karleen Giannitrapani

Why It Matters

By institutionalizing art‑science collaborations, Forever Lab creates scalable, emotionally resonant solutions that can improve patient outcomes and caregiver well‑being, offering a novel competitive edge for health innovators.

Key Takeaways

• Forever Lab merges art, science, tech to reshape caregiving.
• Atlas Fellowship supports interdisciplinary teams tackling lifelong caregiving challenges.
• Small, transportable art experiences can be integrated at patient bedside.
• Curated collaborative spaces spark new clinical innovations across medicine specialties.
• Emphasis on beauty and meaning in birth, death, and grief.

Summary

The video introduces Forever Lab, a Stanford‑based venture founded by artist Janani Balasubramanian and physician Karleen Giannitrapani, aimed at fusing art, research, and technology to reimagine caregiving across the human lifespan. Their mission is to create sustainable structures where artists and clinicians co‑design interventions that address illness, loss, and grief.

Key insights include the launch of the Atlas Fellowship, which gathers artists, scientists, and health practitioners into interdisciplinary teams to develop portable, immersive experiences—like the “gift” installation—that can be brought directly to patients’ bedsides. The founders stress that innovation thrives at disciplinary intersections and that small, transportable artworks can democratize access to therapeutic aesthetics.

Notable examples cited are the “Designing Forever Caregiving” convening, which assembled stakeholders from pediatrics to geriatrics, and the philosophical framing that “forever is change,” echoing Octavia Butler. Participants highlighted how curation functions as a scaffold for collaboration, turning abstract concepts of grief and healing into concrete, co‑created care tools.

The initiative signals a shift toward embedding artistic practice within clinical workflows, potentially enhancing patient experience, supporting caregiver resilience, and opening new funding streams for health‑tech startups that prioritize human‑centered design.

Original Description

In this episode of Art &, we speak with artist, storyteller, and Stanford alum Janani Balasubramanian and Dr. Karleen Giannitrapani, Assistant Professor of Medicine in Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford Medicine, whose research focuses on palliative care, serious illness, and supporting people through major life transitions. Together, they discuss the origins of Forever Lab, a new initiative at Stanford Medicine that brings artists, scientists, technologists, and caregivers together to address some of life's most profound transitions.

Born from a chance encounter during Janani's Denning Visiting Artist residency, Forever Lab explores how artistic practice can contribute to healthcare innovation, creating new interventions, experiences, and systems that support people through moments of vulnerability. Janani and Karleen discuss building interdisciplinary collaborations, why caregiving is a creative act, and how beauty can help reshape the future of healthcare interventions. Along the way, they reflect on the value of discomfort, the power of "curating" people across disciplines, and what becomes possible when artists are invited to participate in solving society's most complex challenges.

Featured Guests: Janani Balasubramanian & Dr. Karleen Giannitrapani

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To learn more about Forever Lab: https://www.foreverlab.org/

Credits

Host: Ellen Oh

Creator / Producer / Editor: Taylor Jones

Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Chase Everett

Theme Song & Music: Juana Izuzquiza

Executive Producers: Ellen Oh and Anne Shulock

Artwork: Connie Ko