In this week’s Healing Through Creativity, host Dr. Desiree Cox speaks with a statistician and historian of science, Dr Eileen Magnello. Dr Magnello, who is an expert on Karl Pearson and Victorian statistics in particular, developed a passion for cooking after an operation on her brain left her mind in pieces. “It was like my mind was a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces having fallen out of place”, says Magnello. The statistician who has since gone on to win prizes for her creative recipes had never had an interest in cooking before her brain operation. “Food helped me connect my memories, my past, my childhood, myself; and, the creativity involved in cooking helped to rebuild my self-confidence….This part of me which lay dormant was now awake…It helped me to heal, to become whole again.”

Magnello, who is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, went on to complete her doctorate in History of Science at Oxford University, despite the set back of a brain operation and her disability (she is also hearing impaired). She has since published numerous articles and several books on statistics and the history of statistics. Magnello has been interviewed as an expert in the area of statistics and history of statistics on BBC radio and television programs and documentaries.
Cox and Magnello touch on role of the creative process in re-wiring the brain. “Brain re-wiring and personal transformation are enhanced when we engage all of the senses,” says Cox. The creative energy Magnello tapped on through her cookery, helped her get in touch with a ‘creative flow’ that then touched all aspects of her life, career and her work. “Creating recipes allowed me to connect with people in ways that were not possible because of my hearing difficulties,” says Magnello. Learn about the art of cooking and other ways of replenishing your own well of creativity in this week’s conversation with Dr Desiree Cox and Dr Eileen Magnello. Find out more about Dr. Desiree Cox on her website www.desireecox.com