Our Impact
What We Do
MagicIsMedicine.org is built on a simple belief: magic can help people heal. We connect professional volunteer magicians with patients seeking a moment of joy, wonder, and relief in difficult times. We also teach healthcare professionals to use simple magic tricks as therapeutic tools to help patients build confidence, improve dexterity, and find moments of connection when they need them most.
Our volunteer magicians perform free shows for audiences ranging from children to adults undergoing cancer treatment, including patients awaiting organ transplants. We have offered our free shows to WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans, as well as to families staying at Ronald McDonald Houses and UCSF Family House. We also perform for stressed doctors and nurses who need a moment of wonder.
Each show is different and tailored to the audience. Close-up magic at a child's bedside. Interactive strolling magic in a chemotherapy ward. A stage show for a room full of veterans. A training session for physical therapists learning to use sleight of hand in rehabilitation.
Over nearly two decades, our volunteer magicians have performed at hospitals and care centers from New York to Miami to San Francisco, and internationally — reaching patients, families, and healthcare workers across the United States and around the world.
Where We've Performed
During COVID-19, when hospital volunteering stopped worldwide, MagicIsMedicine organized an international collaboration with magicians from six countries — from Portugal to Israel and from China to Kenya — to create a video magic show distributed to hundreds of hospitals worldwide, so patients could still experience the healing power of magic from their rooms.
Hospital Performances
Therapeutic Magic Training
International Outreach
Therapeutic Magic: The Science
Magic in healthcare is more than entertainment. Medical research shows that learning and performing magic tricks has been studied across many areas of healthcare, including benefits for children’s pain and anxiety during medical procedures, social skills in teens with autism, cognitive function in older adults with memory problems, and physical rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy. Across studies, the key finding is that actively learning to perform tricks — not just watching — appears to drive the greatest improvements in both physical and mental well-being.
Therapeutic Magic in Clinical Practice
We train physicians and physical therapists to apply therapeutic magic to everyday clinical objects.
Building Rapport
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Cotton ball vanishes
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Tongue depressor tricks
Pediatric Anxiety Reduction
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Otoscope illusions
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Specula illusions
Neurorehabilitation​
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Coin manipulations
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Rubber band exercises
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Paper clip exercises
These techniques, originally developed through David Copperfield's Project Magic program, help patients practice dexterity, coordination, range of motion, and cognitive skills in an engaging rather than repetitive way.
When a stroke patient who couldn't button a shirt learns to palm a coin, it's not a trick
— it's rehabilitation.
Neuromagic Research
The SUNY Downstate Medical Center neuromagic research laboratory, led by Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde and Dr. Stephen Macknik, is pioneering the field of neuromagic. Their work explores how the principles of magic can deepen understanding of attention, perception, cognition, and neurological disease.​
Daniel Rosenthal, M.D., is currently authoring a book on the use of magic in clinical settings, in collaboration with medical researchers at SUNY Downstate, to help physicians and rehabilitation professionals incorporate therapeutic magic into patient care.
Our Partners
Society of American Magicians
The world's oldest professional magic organization, supporting performers and community outreach since 1902.
Project Magic
Founded by David Copperfield, Project Magic combines magic with rehabilitation to improve coordination, dexterity, and cognitive skills.
International Brotherhood of Magicians
The world's largest organization for magicians, with members in more than 70 countries.
The Healing of Magic
Founded by Kevin Spencer, Healing of Magic delivers therapeutic magic programs to healthcare facilities worldwide.
Interested in volunteering or bringing therapeutic magic to your hospital?