Nisha Sajnani – Global Leader in Drama Therapy, Arts Health, and Creative Leadership : “Finding opportunities for creative expression is just good for you” (StageLync Podcast Ep.48)
Nisha is a leading scholar, educator, and advocate in drama therapy and the arts in health. She is the Director of the Program in Drama Therapy and Theatre & Health Lab at NYU, founder of Arts & Health @ NYU, and Chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium. As co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, established in collaboration with the WHO, she leads a global Lancet series on the health benefits of the arts.
At NYU Abu Dhabi, Nisha developedCan Art Save Lives?, a transdisciplinary course linking arts, health, and policy. She is also a faculty advisor in NYU’s Rehabilitation Sciences and Educational Theatre programs, co-teachingImprovisation and Leadership at NYU Stern. Additionally, she lectures on arts and displacement at the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
An award-winning author, Nisha has co-authored and edited books on drama therapy, intercultural practice, and co-production in health. Her research has been published inThe Lancet,Frontiers in Psychology, andThe Arts in Psychotherapy, among others. She has co-produced films and exhibitions, includingDrama Therapy as Performance andFostering Democracy Through Theater.
A founding member of the World Alliance of Drama Therapy, Nisha has received numerous awards, including the NADTA’s Gertrud Schattner Award and the APA’s Global Women’s Advocacy Award. She holds a PhD from Concordia University and a certificate in Climate Change and Health from Yale.
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Credits for the StageLync Podcast
Host: Anna Robb
Editor: Rose Anne Fermocil
Music: Jeremy Willi
Design: Em Holt
Production Coordinator: Roselle Bernardo
Producers: Anna Robb and Andrea Honis
Editor's Note: At StageLync, an international platform for the performing arts, we celebrate the diversity of our writers' backgrounds. We recognize and support their choice to use either American or British English in their articles, respecting their individual preferences and origins. This policy allows us to embrace a wide range of linguistic expressions, enriching our content and reflecting the global nature of our community.
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