Friends,
In this week’s episode of Uncertainty in Medicine, we meet Boston artist and designer Leila Simon Hayes, whose bold, abstract patterns emerge from an intuitive, plan-free creative process. As we step into her studio, we uncover how artmaking became her lifeline for navigating chronic pain and learning how to exist inside uncertainty with grace.
For decades, Leila dealt with mysterious, often debilitating pain that defied diagnosis and was frequently dismissed by doctors. As the medical system failed to offer answers, she turned inward, developing her own ways to cope, and eventually finding clarity and transformation through open-ended exploration. Her story is a meditation on the messy, nonlinear path of healing, and how moments of insight often arise when we stop trying to force them.
In this episode, we explore:
The art project “10 shapes, 10 colors, remixed every day,” which rekindled Leila’s creative drive
How a single research interview radically shifted her experience of chronic pain
Why Leila cuts up her artwork—sometimes mid-process—and what that teaches her about impermanence
The parallels between resisting premature meaning in art and rejecting limiting diagnoses in medicine
What it feels like to be deeply listened to, and how that can change the way we listen to ourselves
Please enjoy!
Warmly,
Emily and The Nocturnists Team
Resources for this episode:
Rhetorics of Quantification in the Context of Chronic Pain, by Rachael Lussos Tin
Tell us your thoughts on the Uncertainty series!
Call for Poems: The Journal of Medical Humanities
The Journal of Medical Humanities is seeking original, unpublished poems on the theme of uncertainty. Poets are welcome to interpret the theme broadly, but are encouraged to explore connections to health or healing. You may submit up to three poems, each as a separate Word document.
Email submission to sarahcross@alum.swarthmore.edu with the subject line “poetry submission JMH uncertainty.” The deadline is September 15, 2025. Selected poems will be published alongside short commentaries by the poets.
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The Nocturnists is looking for a talented audio producer & editor to help shape our Conversations series. If you’ve got sharp narrative instincts, an ear for pacing, and the chops to take raw interviews and make them into great podcast episodes, we’d love to hear from you. Accepting applications through June 16, 11:59pm PT.
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