Healthcare by Design is an Experience Design School of Theater class where theme park attractions are supplanted by experiences—of patients—with design and technology addressing current health-related needs.
Co-taught by CalArts alum Roger Holzberg (Theater BFA 77), the class operates as a project-based partnership with his company Reimagine Well, which develops technologies to evolve the patient journey. Through CalArts’ Experience Design and Production program, students work directly on a project that has real-world applications and public benefits.
The latest class pilot, Come On In: AYA Cancer Unfiltered, is the third Healthcare by Design class project to become a permanent US healthcare resource. Co-taught by Associate Director of Experience Design and Production Shannon Scrofano in fall 2023, the class took on the challenge of finding a way to distribute timely information and support to adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients, ages 15 to 39, and their families living in the rural US. Together, they created a pilot podcast that received a production grant; and last year, members of the class were hired to expand the class pilot into a 10-episode podcast series, produced by Reimagine Well.
“We hired a multidisciplinary group of CalArts students to design, produce, host, and market the series that features AYA clinicians, survivors, and community resources,” Holzberg wrote in an email. The CalArts project team included Creative Producer Emma-Grace Eisenmann (Theater BFA 24); Video Director-Producer Sedona Cruz (Film/Video BFA 24); Host Marie Sadd (Theater MFA 23); and Social Media Manager Ryan Meglino (Theater BFA 25).
After a year in use, Come On In: AYA Cancer Unfiltered was recently recognized as a finalist in the American Writing Awards 2025 Podcast of the Year. The show is now featured on American Writing Awards’ website and social media channels, and was also included in their spring press announcement.
Each iteration of the Healthcare by Design class involves a healthcare partner. Past projects included the creation of an AR adventure game called Get Up & GO! that helps pediatric patients at Boys Town Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, become ambulatory after surgery and accelerate their discharge. Another class took on end-of-life/palliative care, delivering a patient experience pilot that infuses creativity into end-of-life care for Henry Mayo Hospital in Valencia, California.
“This program is now in use nationwide. For the launch at Baptist Hospital South Florida CalArts students were hired to create the localization and immersive media production,” said Holzberg.
Experience design is nothing new for Holzberg, who spent a dozen years as an award-winning creative director/vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he led creative development for a broad portfolio of projects including PlayStation® games to theme park rides and experiences and several Disney World Celebrations. A more than 20-year cancer survivor himself, Hozberg served as the first (consulting) creative director for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he led the development of NCI’s vision of how to educate patients, researchers, and healthcare professionals.
