Our Team
The Art in Medicine (AiM) Board consists of an incredible group of people each with their own unique expertise and experience. United by a shared mission, they collaborate to create opportunities for community-building, advocacy, networking, and mentorship to empower healthcare professionals and artists in the integration of art and medicine.
Samara Shuter
Samara Shuter, a Montreal-born creative director and self-trained contemporary artist, is known for her strikingly bold and larger-than-life paintings. Since 2012, after leaving her career in the film industry, Sam has staged multiple solo exhibitions of her work, participated in numerous group exhibitions, and donated her work to major public institutions and charities. Her work has been showcased throughout North America at such esteemed sites as the Rockefeller Center in NYC and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. She has been sought out by established brands such as Facebook, Timberland Shoes, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Microsoft, Schott, CHANEL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Saks Fifth Avenue, Saturday Night Live and many international developers for special projects featuring her art.
Sam is also proudly associated with multiple non-profits including SickKids as a member of its Innovators Program, a Volunteer with Campfire Circle and an advocate for the emotional intelligence-centric organization, The Charlie Fund.
Sam is honoured to join the board of AiM. She brings a great deal of knowledge and creative direction to the table in support of our mission. As a proponent of mental health awareness and art therapy, she is excited to engage and inform our community alongside her family and peers.
Laura Sellors
Laura is delighted to be part of the board of AiM as it brings together a number of passion areas for her. She believes there is real power in the intersectionality of disciplines, especially the merging of creative and design based thinking with business, sciences and technology. Her broad-based education and life experiences have instilled in her a deep appreciation and skill for creating those kinds of connections and how it shapes us to be better people and professionals.
In her professional life, Laura is a design executive who for more than twenty years has shaped and led creative firms, from software startups to advertising agencies to multi-disciplinary design companies. She is currently the Chief Growth Officer at SvN, one of Canada’s preeminent urban planning and architecture firms. She has degrees and post-graduate education in theatre production, design management, business, and the creative arts. She is a frequent conference speaker and past board member of the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD) and the Society for Marketing Professional Services’ Ontario chapter. In addition to AiM, she currently serves on the management committee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Toronto.
Laura is a proud mother of 4 wonderful teenagers and in her personal life enjoys dance, photography, rowing, skiing, and is actively pursuing her doula certification.
Nandini Gupta
Dr. Nandini Gupta is an advanced heart failure cardiologist with a rich blend of medical expertise and artistic passion. Educated at McMaster University (medical school and cardiology), the University of Ottawa (Internal Medicine), and the University Health Network (Heart Failure and Heart Transplant fellowship), Dr. Gupta currently practices at Mackenzie Health Richmond Hill and Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, alongside independent clinics in Toronto.
Her journey into medicine was deeply influenced by her father, also a cardiologist, and her lifelong immersion in the arts. From a young age, Dr. Gupta engaged in various artistic pursuits including singing, Bollywood and Bharatnatyam dance (her dance team, Broken Dance, was a finalist on the first season of Canada's Got Talent), and playing the piano. These experiences, inspired by her mother’s belief in the synergy of art and science, laid a strong foundation for her holistic approach to medicine.
Despite a demanding career that initially limited her time for artistic endeavors, Dr. Gupta’s passion for the arts remained a core part of her identity. This led her to Columbia University, where she completed a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine—a field that blends the humanities, arts, and clinical practice.
Driven by the belief that art and medicine are intrinsically connected, Dr. Gupta founded the non-profit organization Art in Medicine (AiM). The foundation’s mission is to integrate the humanities and art education into medical practice, advocating for art as a vital component of medical education and a tool for reflective and empathetic healthcare.
Sunayna Gupta
COMING SOON…