’A creative perspective’: Neurologist Suvendrini Lena on her path to playwriting

Suvendrini Lena, an assistant professor in U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, bridges the gap between medicine and theatre in her work as a playwright Suvendrini Lena has a foot in two worlds: she's a staff neurologist at Women's College Hospital and an assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry in the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine - and a successful playwright. After earning a B.A. in history and political science as an undergraduate student at Trinity College, Lena went on to a graduate degree in neurology at University of Toronto - all while exploring her longstanding interest in theatre and writing. But the path to writing her first play was a bit of a surprise - certainly to her neurology professors. Instead of presenting a final research project, she wrote a piece of theatre - The Enchanted Loom - that explored the experience of a patient with epilepsy. It was later produced by Toronto's Cahoots Theatre and published as a book. Since then, Lena has continued to work in both medicine and theatre - her latest play, Rubble , is currently on stage at Theatre Passe Muraille until March 18. A dramatic imagining of the works of Palestinian poets Mahmoud Darwish and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, the play was inspired by Lena's work in Gaza in 2002 while still a medical student.