At UT MD Anderson, creativity and care converge to foster a compassionate, healing environment that nurtures the mind, body, and spirit of all who walk through our doors. As we strive to be a national leader in the intersection of arts and healthcare, our Art Experience aims to enrich the healing environment for patients, families, our workforce, and the broader community, while upholding our institution’s core values.
Our goals
Establish a diverse, dynamic collection of contemporary art that cultivates a therapeutic atmosphere, reduces stress, stimulates intellectual curiosity, and supports overall well-being for patients, families, staff, and visitors.
Champion creativity, innovation, and diverse perspectives, inspiring all who engage with our healthcare and research spaces and elevating the UT MD Anderson experience.
Prioritize the arts as a vital and integral component of UT MD Anderson's facilities expansion plan, ensuring its continued role in enhancing the environment for healing and reflection. Through the integration of art into our healthcare spaces, we aim to foster a holistic approach to care.
Build ongoing support for the collection and the program through community and philanthropic relationships.
Conduct research on how the art collection affects patient health outcomes, including anxiety, stress, mood, comfort, physiological responses, and overall patient experience.
Art installation brings healing to colorectal cancer center
Building and maintaining our collection
UT MD Anderson’s collection has been carefully curated through the acquisition of artworks sourced from a wide‑ranging group of artists, galleries, and private collections. Guided by curators with deep expertise in contemporary art and the art market, the Art Experience team is dedicated to the thoughtful development, care, and preservation of the collection.
These permanent and site‑specific works were selected to support healing and spark inspiration for all who encounter them—whether in person or virtually through the Bloomberg Connects app. As UT MD Anderson expands its regional footprint, the collection will grow with it, reaching more spaces and inspiring more people.
The artworks will not only rotate across locations but will also continue to expand, with new acquisitions introduced regularly to create a dynamic and evolving presence for everyone who experiences it.
How art is shaping the patient experience at UT MD Anderson
A beige countryside. A winding stream. A field punctuated by a grazing cow.
Jennifer Finkel, Ph.D., knows that the artwork traditionally found in hospitals tends to blend into the wallpaper at the exact moment a patient may need it the most. That's why she’s adamant that art never be an afterthought or a finishing touch. Instead, she sees art as a cornerstone of a patient’s experience, providing mental respite, playing a role in wayfinding and even affecting clinical outcomes.
Since joining UT MD Anderson as associate vice president for Art Experience in January 2025, she's worked to curate an art collection that’s an indispensable part of the patient experience. As UT MD Anderson expands its facilities, this often means poring over floor plans and considering art commissions well before ground breaks on a project. Her commitment to the art experience often comes at the expense of a functional dining room table.
“I love sitting down with floor plans and figuring out space,” she says. “My husband asked, 'Are we going to see our dining room table?'” I responded, “No, that's our floor plan table.”
We recently spoke with her about her path to UT MD Anderson and a preview of what visitors can expect from the art experience.
What sparked your interest in art?
If you asked my mother, she would say it's because, growing up in Washington, D.C., every week, we would go to the National Gallery of Art. But while I always loved art and going to museums, I never thought about it as a career.
My freshman year of college at Georgetown University, I applied for business school. I remember struggling until I took my first art history class. I called my mom and said, “I found my passion.” I switched majors and took as many art history classes as I could. I spent my junior year in Florence, Italy, and just fell in love.
Following my undergraduate degree, I got my master’s degree in art history at Case Western Reserve University. I chose that program because it has a joint affiliation with the Cleveland Museum of Art. All my classes were in the museum. We would have a Rembrandt seminar, and they would take the Rembrandt off the wall and we would go to conservation and look at it under raking light.
I stayed at Case Western for my Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history. I originally thought I would go into academia and teach. But as I was finishing my doctorate, I saw an ad for a part-time curator position at Cleveland Clinic. When I started, something clicked: I felt like I was in service. It was palpable how much the art and environment mattered to patients, families and employees.
I spent the next 15 years there building an amazing contemporary art program. I learned that I love working with architects and designers to figure out a space. I love thinking about how people navigate space and how art can help with wayfinding and storytelling.
Now, at UT MD Anderson, I’m so excited to create a collection that will be a destination for people to have an art experience. I want people to come away feeling that art mattered to their stay and care.
What does the art experience look like within a health care setting?
As an art historian, you never want to hear that art can be a distraction. But, in a hospital, art is absolutely a positive distraction. Art can transport you to another place. It can provide respite and levity or even be challenging. For that moment, you're not thinking about why you're there.
What places represent the art experience for you personally?
I've had so many of these experiences in my life where I walk into a space, and I think, ‘Oh my gosh, take me away. This is so amazing.’ A lot of those for me have been in Venice at the Venice Biennale, where you'll have a 16th century palazzo next to a contemporary art activation.
Another example came when I was visiting the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida. There are floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the greenery and courtyards out to the water. The furnishings are so minimal with calming, neutral palettes. The art just pops. There is no visual noise; the desks are clear of paper and clutter. You walk in, and it just feels really calming.
What role does art play in physical and emotional healing?
During my time in Cleveland, my team received hundreds of testimonials from patients telling us how the art impacted them. All the art was labeled, so some patients even contacted the artists directly.
This inspired my team to conduct two studies on the impact of art on patient mood, stress, comfort and overall experience. We found that the longer patients were in the hospital, the more they noted improvements in these areas. We were the first group to study a collection of both representational and abstract art. There's since been a growing body of research on this topic. We know that art can impact well-being.
What is your goal for UT MD Anderson’s art collection?
UT MD Anderson is the nation's No. 1 cancer center, and we want to build a world-class contemporary art collection that is a reflection of the people we serve and who we are.
I want to create a collection that includes a variety of media and materials from local, regional, national and international artists: photography, painting, works on paper, textiles, sculpture and video.
We're not all one thing. We're all different, and art is so subjective. That's why I don't believe in all landscapes or all abstraction or all photography or all this or all that. Maybe you’ll see a piece and think, “Oh, I don't like that.” But if you walk five more paces, maybe you’ll find something you do like. That’s the beauty of a diverse collection: there's something for everyone.
Our impact
Patients, caretakers and visitors alike are invited to experience the elevated healing atmosphere curated by the art that surrounds you here at UT MD Anderson. This evolving collection was created by not only prioritizing our patient and visitor experience but also focusing on the community and staff pride it will foster simultaneously. Each artwork was carefully selected to spark curiosity, foster a restorative environment and promote overall well-being for all our patients, staff and visitors.
“I hope that art is able to transport you and touch a part of your humanity and soul. When the environment is thoughtfully considered, people feel taken care of. I want you to be surrounded by a world-class art collection that immediately impacts how you feel and sets the tone for the world-class care you’ll receive at UT MD Anderson.”
Bloomberg Connects mobile app: access art on the go
Bloomberg Connects is a free mobile app that helps you engage more deeply with featured art in the UT MD Anderson collection. Whether you’re in a waiting room, a patient room, or halfway around the world, our expertly curated content and guides are available right from your phone. By sharing the stories behind each artwork, the audio guide transforms passive viewing into an active, calming, and enriching experience — one that supports emotional well‑being, reduces stress, and helps patients and visitors feel more connected to the hospital environment. As our collection expands and new artists are added, this dynamic app will keep you up to date with the latest additions across our institution.
To download, search for “Bloomberg Connects” in the App Store or Google Play. To access UT MD Anderson's art collection once in the app, look up "MD Anderson" via the search tool.