Rx Laughter

Our 2012 projects are currently listed on the News/Project Updates page and will be added to this page in the future. Here are some of our continuing and piloted Education projects from which our new projects emerge:

Media Health Education:

Rx Laughter educates the general public about our work through various media outlets. We also post an extensive video section on this site which includes patients, physicians and entertainment industry professionals who speak about the importance of positive emotion and health. Please visit Media for more information.

Educational Outreach at American Cinematheque screenings of Marx Bros. Films:

Josh Feldman, an Rx Laughter Advisory Board member, was on hand to educate and inspire the audience about our use of classic Marx Bros. films in Rx Laughter research and therapeutic projects. Thank you to American Cinematheque for this opportunity. It was a great way to start 2011!

Discovery Sunday Education Outreach - UCSD La Jolla Playhouse:

This was a fun, informal Q & A session about the role of humor in medicine and the medical benefits of positive entertainment. The session was presented by Sherry Hilber, the Founder & Executive Director of Rx Laughter, to an inquisitive and enthusiastic audience.

The event followed a performance of the play "Limelight" The Story of Charlie Chaplin" at the La Jolla Playhouse on the campus of the University of California at San Diego as part of their "Discovery Sunday" educational outreach events. Thanks to everyone there who made this event so professional and well-received by all who attended.

Rx Laughter "Humanism in Doctoring" Program:

We have noticed that several of our volunteers are pre-med students. They express a desire to go beyond the diagnosis and treatment of disease to recognize and be comfortable treating and relating to the patient as a whole person.

We believe that this is a very significant and necessary change from the cold, authoritative, paternalistic, unequal and one-dimensional health care model between doctors and patients in the past.

As such, Rx Laughter is interested in educating these pre-med and med student volunteers to relate to patients in a one-on-one personalized way while watching funny films and television videos with the pediatric patient and family during chemotherapy and other infusion treatments.

Thus, films and television will serve as a catalyst for improved communication between the doctor and patient as part of our evolving Humanistic Doctoring initiative. If you are a pre med or med student and would like to become involved with this initiative, please Contact Us

Positive Emotion & Humor Research Reference Library:

Rx Laughter has compiled a reference "library" that includes the most significant scientific research regarding the connection between positive emotion and health. It includes a brief and clear summary of each article. It is only in hard copy because it is too extensive to put on the website.

Our gratitude to Joy Bhosai, a then-undergraduate student intern who worked with us preparing and summarizing the contents of this positive emotion library for Rx Laughter. Joy has since achieved an MA in Public Health from Yale University and is working on her medical degree in San Francisco at this time.

Please Contact Us if you need a hard copy for research or general interest. We must ask for a fee for the time, supplies and shipping costs which are reasonable and necessary. Thank you for your understanding.

Separately, Rx Laughter has prepared a free listing of scientific humor research available to all on our Reference page. This list includes the title and date of each article so that readers can then find the contents at a medical or academic library. Thank you to Patti Wooten, RN for giving us a partial list of these articles for our website. We continue to add to this free reference list as time and resources permit.

Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz "Legacy of Laughter" Event:

Moderated by Lucie Arnaz, panelists who spoke about the role of humor in their lives included Sherry Dunay Hilber, veteran primetime network comedy executive and Founder of Rx Laughter, Marc Cherry, Creator and Executive Producer of "Desperate Housewives, comedy writer and performer Robert Schimmel, veteran comedy writer Sam Denoff, and Peter Baghdassarian of Film Roman.