Dr. Matthew Farrell, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and investigator at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named the inaugural Hope Fellow of the newly established Institute for the Study of Hope, Dignity and Wellbeing.
The institute is an international collaboration between the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine in Jerusalem and Life’s Door, a nonprofit that promotes hope and quality of life through illness and aging. The partnership brings together experts from healthcare, social sciences, technology and the arts to embed hope and dignity into the foundation of caregiving systems and support radical, sustainable resilience.
As the inaugural Hope Fellow, Farrell will be paired with a senior investigator to lead a rigorous research project aimed at advancing the understanding of hope, dignity or wellbeing.
A broad goal of the project will be to add to the growing body of literature demonstrating that hope can be defined, measured, optimized, and incorporated into multifaceted and patient-centered care plans. Drawing on his longstanding interest in narrative medicine, Farrell plans to design and run a prospective trial that will test the effects of a writing-based intervention on levels of hopefulness, quality of life and other outcomes.
“It’s an honor to work with an organization that supports patients and their families during times of great need, helping them find hope in the midst of grief,” said Farrell. “I come from an arts background, and I love projects that combine elements of the humanities, social sciences and medicine. I am grateful for the chance to work with experts in the field to develop new tools that could help people in desperate need of hope.”
The institute is spearheaded by professor Ben Corn, a senior faculty member at the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine and a globally respected oncologist. For more than a decade, Corn has focused his research on the mechanisms of hope and its clinical application in serious illness. He co-founded Life’s Door with his wife, Dvora Corn, a family therapist. The organization was one of the first in Israel to identify hope as a vital resource for navigating crisis, trauma and end-of-life care.
