Peter Spitzer

Background
Dr. Spitzer was born in Czechoslovakia in 1946 and migrated to Australia in 1956, which is where he still resides today. He attended Melbourne University, Victoria and in 1972 graduated with a degree in medicine. Throughout his time in university, he had always been involved in the performing arts, specifically stage performance, modern dance, and film. His passion for both the arts and medicine led to his development of clown doctoring in Australia when in 1996 Dr. Spitzer co-founded The Humour Foundation, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting the health benefits of humour and became the Inaugural Chairman.

Work as a Physician
As a physician he is the principal of a general medical practice and has training in acupuncture, musculoskeletal medicine, hypnosis, psychotherapy and natural medicine. In 1974 Dr. Spitzer served as a medical officer with the Australian Government in Cyprus. Since 2006 Dr. Spitzer has had the delight of being an Australia Day Ambassador, and a member of the Advisory Board -The Society for the Arts in Dementia Care. Currently, Dr. Spitzer is a Visiting Medical Officer at the Southern Highlands Private Hospital, a member of the Australia Society of Hypnosis, and a Fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

Work as a Clown Doctor
Dr. Peter Spitzer is best known as Dr. Fruit-Loop - Australia’s first, and most famous, medical Clown Doctor. Dr. Spitzer brings his work to others by helping to train future Clown Doctors. In 2003, he developed the “LaughterBoss” training program to enable healthcare professionals in nursing homes to develop creative skills in introducing humour and laughter into their practice. In addition he is actively involved in bringing the arts to both undergraduate and postgraduate medical, nursing and allied health programs. In 2000 Dr. Spitzer initiated a program to travel with fellow Clown Doctors to war-torn East Timor. He also created a teaching model entitled “Engaging Children” that he presents at the Diploma Child Health course at the Westmead Children’s Hospital.

Research and Teaching
Dr. Spitzer was a Co-Chief Investigators in a joint study between the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre (DCRC) of the University of New South Wales and the Humour foundation in a landmark 3-year study of SMILE (Sydney Multisite Intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns). This study took place between 2009 and 2011. The outcome of this study is Dr. Spitzer now delivers workshops to healthcare staff as a part of the Knowledge Translation Program of the Dementia Training Study Centre (DTSC) at the University of Wollongong.

In 2001 Dr. Spitzer was awarded the Churchill Fellowship in order to study the international impact of hospital clown units on the health care system.

Since 2004 he has been collaborating with Dr. Bernie Warren on writing, research and training projects around the world. Recently they created "Smiles are Everywhere", a company dedicated to providing training in the use of play and humour in education, healthcare and professional development.

When he is not teaching other Clown Doctors or engrossed in his research, Dr. Spitzer continues to visit children in hospital as Dr. Fruit-Loop, bringing healing laughter to relieve stress and fear, and aid recovery.

Major Publications

 * 1) Warren, B & Spitzer, P. Smiles are Everywhere: Integrating clown-play into your healthcare practice, Routledge, London & New York. Expected Publication date June  2013
 * 2) Low, L-F., Brodaty, H., Goodenhough, B., Spitzer, P., Bell, J-P., Fleming, R., Casey, A-N., Zhinxin, & Chenoweth, L. (2013) The Sydney Multisite Intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns (SMILE) study: cluster randomised trial of humour therapy in nursing homes, BMJ Open 2013;3:e002072 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002072
 * 3) Warren, B & Spitzer, P (2011) Laugh To Longevity: The Work Of Elder-Clowns With Seniors In Residential Care Facilities The Lancet 378: pp562–563.
 * 4) Spitzer, P. (2011). The LaughterBoss: a practical approach to humour therapy in dementia care. In Lee, H. & Adams, T. (Eds.) Creative Approaches in Dementia Care. Macmillan, UK: Palgrave. pp 32–53
 * 5) Spitzer, P. (2008). LaughterBoss: Introducing a new position in aged care. In Warren, B. (Ed.), Using the Creative Arts in Healthcare and Therapy . London & New York: Routledge. pp 250–261
 * 6) Spitzer, P. (2007). Practice humour or how to tickle your funny bone 101. In Cohen, C. (Ed.) Integrative Medicine Perspectives (pp. 231–237). Blue Mountains, NSW: AG Publishing.
 * 7) Spitzer, P. (2006). LaughterBoss – the Court Jester in aged care. In Warren, B. (Ed.) Suffering the Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune: International Perspectives On Stress,Laughter and Depression (pp. 165–174). Amsterdam & New York : Rodopi.
 * 8) Spitzer, P. (2006). Hospital clowns – modern-day court jesters at work. The Lancet, 368, S34-S35.
 * 9) Spitzer, P. (2001). The Clown Doctors. Australian Family Physician, 30(1), 12-16.

Significant Workshops/Lectures

 * 1) Warren, B and Spitzer, P (2011) Red Nose, White Coat: injecting humour and clown-plays into healthcare practice, Advancing Patient-Centered Arts Society for Arts in Healthcare 22nd Annual Conference, San Francisco, May.
 * 2) Spitzer, P. (2010). Tickling stress before it tackles you: Is there a place for humour in Medicine. Presented at the Australian Medical Students Association National Convention, Hobart, Australia, July.
 * 3) Warren, B. and Spitzer, P. (2010). Clown Work with Seniors: An Introduction to the Practice, Theory and Benefits. A Healthy Dose Of Laughter: International Week Of Laughter, Clowning ad Healthcare, Toronto, March.
 * 4) Spitzer, P. and Warren, B. (2010). Humourising Healthcare: Injecting Humour into Everyday Practice. A Healthy Dose of Laughter: International Week of Laughter, Clowning and Healthcare. Toronto, March.
 * 5) Spitzer, P. (2008). Humour in clinical practice. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Sydney Australia, May.
 * 6) Spitzer, P. (2003). Humour and Depression. The Laughter Prescription – Potent Medicine for All Ages. Presented at the First National Conference on Depression in Aged Care – Challenging Depression in Aged Care, Sydney, Australia, June.

Websites

 * Smiles are Everywhere: http://smilesareeverywhere.com/
 * Clown Doctors: http://www.humourfoundation.com.au