Susan Hall, Ed.D, MSN, RN, CNE, Dean of Nursing & Health Professions, and Stella Barber, Ed. D, MSN, RN, CNE, Associate Dean, Clinical Studies in Nursing & Health Professions for Rowan College South Jersey – Nursing & Health Professions Division, took time to admire the works of Dr. James George during the installation on the Rowan South Jersey Campus in Sewell, NJ. Morgan Yacoe, Director of the George Family Center for Healing Arts at Rowan University, was also in attendance to preview the art display.
Congratulations to Team Jefferson Moss Magee for winning the 2024 Beast of the East Wheelchair Rugby Tournament!
RiverWinds Community Center recently hosted teams from far away including; New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, New York, and Tampa. These incredible athletes never cease to amaze me. I had the pleasure of watching the event with good friends Ron Riggs and Mark Chilutti from Jefferson Moss-Magee, and my new friend, MacKenzie Garrett.
Special guests recently visited the art studio to select original paintings to be framed and hung in their respective offices and facility hallways:
CARES Institute (Yolanda Virella; Lucia Appleby and Stesie Michel)
Rowan RISN (Anna Marasa)
NeuroMusculosketal Institute (Nikole Ticcino and Season Williams)
This past Friday, I was honored to be a part of a panel discussion for a presentation titled, “Trauma, Art, and Transformation”. Distinguished panelists included; Bridgette Mayer, Holly Wong, and Morgan Yacoe. The panel discussion was held in the Rhoden Auditorium at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Video of the discussion to come…
#arttherapy #artheals #pafa #arttherapyjourney
“Framing Our Future” Art Auction presented by Kingsway Learning Center in Voorhees, NJ
Bridgette Mayer Gallery's Benefit Exhibition, Converge
Taliaferro Foundation Recognition Banquet
Some scenes from the Adam Taliaferro Foundation Recognition Banquet recently held at Riverwinds Restaurant. The George Family Foundation was a proud sponsor.
Honorees included:
Jack Cloherty, AFT Board Member
Mark Valente, Woodstown Physical Therapy
Patrick Hoey, Penn State Student
Eastern Regional High School Athletics
Keith Newerla, Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation
Harold Carmichael, Philadelphia Eagles’ Hall of Fame
Photo Gallery
A Locus for Healing Arts
Dr. George admits that he was not overly artistic prior to his injury, but he was so transformed by his healing arts experience that he has made a generous donation to launch the George Family Center for Healing Arts of Rowan University.
The Center will encourage and mentor the next generation of artists, therapists, and practitioners dedicated to using expressive arts to facilitate healing and positive change in their communities and the world.
Edelman CCCA Dean Sanford Tweedie said the Center’s goals will be collaborative and expansive, from patient support to community outreach to exhibiting art.
“Through their work at the George Family Center, Rowan students and professionals will bring arts to South Jersey health care settings including our two medical schools and through our health care partners,” Tweedie said.
Rowan President Ali Houshmand said George is nothing short of inspiring. “Dr. James George is a longtime member of the Rowan community and a friend who leads by example,” Houshmand said. “Thanks to his generous gift, Rowan will help unlock the healing power of creativity. And that may be the greatest gift of all.”
Rowan University to Launch the George Family Center for Healing Arts
GLASSBORO, NJ: Dr. James George is living testament to the healing power of art. Soon, his passion and generosity will bring those transformative capabilities to southern New Jersey through the recently established James E. George, M.D., J.D. & Family Center for Healing Arts of Rowan University.
A reignited love of the arts helped drive Dr. George’s recovery following a catastrophic fall in his home that left the emergency medicine physician quadriplegic. “I know firsthand how the power of creating can be truly therapeutic,” George said. “Practicing art has made and continues to make a huge impact in my recovery and my life.”
In partnership with the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts, the George Family Center will foster wellness and growth through expressive arts that heal and inspire.
Art in recovery
Dr. George earned both his medical degree and law degree from the University of Louisville in 1970 and then began a career at the former Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury, New Jersey. He served his community for decades in his role as an emergency medicine physician until his devastating accident left Dr. George hospitalized for nine days in Jefferson’s neuro ICU, followed by his six-month admission to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. While at Magee, he regained partial functional use of his non-dominant left arm and leg, and limited use of his right arm and leg.
When he was introduced to art therapy during his in-patient rehabilitation stay at Magee, the miracle of art’s healing ability took hold in ways he never could have imagined.
“My daughter approached the art therapist and asked her to see if I would like to paint,” recalled George, a longtime Rowan University Foundation Board member. “I thought, how can I paint when I can’t use my right arm and hand? But my art therapist encouraged me to use my left hand. Over several days, I became more and more attracted to abstract painting with no limitations, just total artistic freedom.”
Dr. George has donated artwork to Magee and Rowan, where many of his paintings hang on walls at Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine in Sewell and in the offices of the Division of University Advancement in Glassboro, among other locations.
George paints nearly every day and, by his estimate, has completed over 5,000 works of art.