Ian Koebner Named Inaugural Chair and Endowed Professor in Arts in Health
Scholar, arts practitioner, and cultural strategist Ian Koebner, who for more than two decades has forged partnerships between arts and health to enhance individual and communal well-being, has been named the inaugural chair and endowed professor in Arts in Health at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts (MGSA).
Koebner’s appointment comes as a result of the largest gift in MGSA’s 49-year history, $8.8 million, announced in February 2025.
In this position, Koebner will guide the development of public programming, education, and research collaborations that explore how creative engagement supports physical, emotional, and social health. His work will further connect Rutgers artists and scholars with health care institutions and community organizations across New Jersey and beyond.
“The field of arts and health sits at the crossroads of creativity and care, offering powerful ways to improve individual and collective well-being,” says Koebner, a published poet who serves as strategic advisor for health and wellness programs at Carnegie Hall. As an artist himself, Koebner has delved into curation, as well as writing, performance, and exhibit design.
Koebner holds a doctoral degree in health care leadership and a master’s degree in pain research, education, and policy. He is a recognized expert in the public health benefits of weaving the arts into institutional settings. During Koebner’s tenure at the helm of the integrative pain management program at the University of California, Davis, from 2012 to 2022, he says, he established the nation’s first partnership between a contemporary art museum and an academic medical center devoted to researching the potential for museum and virtual museum engagement to mitigate loneliness and pain.
Koebner’s work resonates with that of the Arts in Health Research Lab, a partnership launched in 2023 involving the Mason Gross School, the Rutgers School of Public Health, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The lab’s mission is to marshal creativity to improve health outcomes through research, education, and community engagement. The lab conducts research and nurtures pedagogy and programming that explores the ways in which the arts contribute to measurable improvements in physical, social, and mental well-being.
Ellen Bredehoft, Mason Gross’s interim dean, says: “We are delighted to have Dr. Koebner leading our Arts in Health initiatives, with his expertise as both a scholar and a practitioner in this emerging field. Rutgers is certainly well-positioned with Dr. Koebner steering our efforts as an Arts in Health pioneer in higher education.”
“I was drawn to Mason Gross because of its deep artistic excellence, its commitment to community, and its unique position within a major research university,” Koebner says. “I believe MGSA is poised to become a national leader in shaping how the arts contribute to human flourishing—through artistic practice, research, education, and public engagement.”
