Remembering Lynne McVeigh (1941-2026)

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Lynne McVeigh on September 2, 2026, at the age of 85. A longtime professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, award-winning producer, and passionate advocate for people with disabilities, Lynne was a valued member of the Clinical Picture Maker team and a co-investigator on our NIH-funded Phase I research project.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Lynne worked as a producer, writer, and director, developing educational and children's programming for television and radio, including productions for PBS and NPR. She taught at NYU Tisch for 41 years, where she was recognized for her exceptional teaching and mentorship, receiving the school's prestigious David Payne Carter Award in 1994.

Lynne devoted much of her career to helping people with disabilities share their experiences through film, theater, and other media. In 1993, she joined forces with GeneticaLens founder Louise Tiranoff to establish the Fearless Theater Company, which brought together young people with and without disabilities to create original plays, films, and radio productions. Their collaboration continued for more than three decades, including the award-winning web series The Hope Scenarios, which featured young adults sharing their experiences of living with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Lynne brought this same commitment to storytelling and self-expression to the Clinical Picture Maker. In 2022, an NYU Tisch Mega Grants Incubator award helped build support for CPM's approach to documenting the everyday experiences of people living with rare diseases. As a co-investigator, Lynne helped advance the project's mission of making these experiences more visible and accessible to families, clinicians, and researchers.

As Lynne herself once said of their projects with young people with disabilities:

"This is really worthwhile – what we are doing. There is an energy that comes from people who realize that what they are doing is worthwhile and they care. That's why I feel blessed."

We are profoundly grateful for Lynne's contributions to the Clinical Picture Maker and for the compassion and creativity she brought to everything she did. Her legacy will continue to inspire our work, and she will be deeply missed.