Kathy Cadow Parsonnet

Professional Bio

Kathy Cadow Parsonnet is an artist and health professional, with over 30 years' professional practice in research, health-care and the arts.

Ms. Parsonnet’s experience in the health field includes clinical nursing at Bellevue Hospital in NYC and Yale-New Haven Hospital, research associate for a number of studies at both Harvard and Dartmouth Medical Schools, and designer and director of numerous regional HIV/AIDS Programs operating out of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.  In 1996, Parsonnet co-founded Chronic Conditions Information Network (CCIN) of VT and NH, one of the first regional networks offering an integrative approach to living with chronic health conditions, into which “art for the sake of health” was incorporated.

Her practice in the field of the arts includes music (singing and serving on the boards of several singing societies including New Haven Chorale, Boston Cecilia, and Handel Society of Dartmouth), theater, and the visual arts. In addition to painting and designing artist’s books, she has illustrated a number of publications on health and nutrition.

In 2005, Ms. Parsonnet was contracted to develop the Creative Arts Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).  In collaboration with the Department of Occupational Medicine, she developed a series of creative interventions designed to improve employee health, including the Art-on-the-Job project, Art Works for Health initiative, and Art-in-the-Stairwell program.  In 2007, the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at DHMC contracted Ms. Parsonnet to design and implement an art program for their infusion suite. She served as the Hospital Artist-in-Residence for five years.

Currently, in addition to consulting with health care organizations around the country to establish and grow their own arts and health initiatives, Ms. Parsonnet conducts artist residencies in schools, hospitals, outpatient clinics, and continues to paint and create her Fraglets® “Permanently Adjustable Original Art.”