Doctor Uses Magic to Heal, Teach and Entertain

Marc Vitali | December 14, 2016, 4:03 pm

He is both a medical doctor and a magician, and he explores the importance of “belief” in both disciplines.

By trade, Dr. Ricardo Rosenkranz is a neonatologist, specializing in the care of premature babies, and he teaches at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Rosenkranz’s other great passion is magic.

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His new stage show at the Royal George Theatre, “The Rosenkranz Mysteries,” looks at the connection between magic and medicine. While performing illusions and mind-boggling tricks of mentalism, he speaks of the similarity between a doctor and a patient and a performer and an audience.

He is a medicine man for the modern era, stressing empathy and imagination.

Dr. Rosenkranz joins host Phil Ponce to talk about moonlighting as a magician. He’ll also reveal how and why he uses illusions in his lectures to medical students at Northwestern, where he has taught a class in medicine and magic for seven years. He’ll share tricks of both trades.

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