Addressing the cancer taboo via contemporary art: an integrative education program that brings together cancer patients, educators, medical students, and artist.

There have been remarkable scientific advances in oncology in recent decades that have significantly improved the outcome of certain malignancies, while at the same time making it more difficult for cancer patients to understand their own disease. This understanding would be the basis for the involvement of patients as active participants in the management of their disease, which has now become an essential patient need and has been shown to lead to better treatment outcomes as well. Achieving these goals in the long run also requires educating medical students, which includes learning about cancer patients’ unique experiences and developing their empathic skills. To achieve these goals, we call on artists to take part in our education program and help to make the scientific background of cancer more understandable and to bring the subjective experience of cancer patients closer through their artworks created during the project. The results of this project will be made accessible to the wider society through an exhibition and educational material created from the artworks, thus reducing the taboo surrounding cancer and the stigmatisation of cancer patients. We are looking for students, cancer researchers, oncologists, educators and communication experts to join our projects.