Dr. Cynthia Shelby-Lane, 62, who has a prevention and wellness practice in Detroit, will talk about Heart Sense and Humor at 9 a.m. Saturday at the 9th Annual Heart and Vascular Expo.

She is a graduate of both University of Michigan Medical School and The Second City School of Comedy in Chicago and believes in the healing power of laughter. She is a board certified anti-aging specialist, as well as an author, talk show host and comedian.

Shelby-Lane is also featured in the 2013 Aetna African American History Calendar for the month of April.

Mlives Monetta Harr asked Shelby-Lane a few questions about her background and humor and health go hand-in-hand.

Q: Multiple degrees are not uncommon, but it seems very unusual to have a medical degree and one from a famous comedy school.

Shelby-Lane: I did a lot of research on heart disease and I know endorphins are good for our brain, every part of our body. I read about Norman Cousins (a journalist who discovered humor as he battled illness and wrote, "I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.). Whether you watch the Three Stooges or laugh at a joke, you can heal faster. And the staff needs laughter as much as patients do. You have to bring laughter into hospitals, get people to see the lighter side of life and it works.

Q: How did you decide to attend the comedy school?

Shelby-Lane: I was an emergency room doctor in Detroit and I was seeing a lot of kids dying. But it wasnt until my best friend was killed that I enrolled in Second City. She and I were sitting in a restaurant talking, she was very mellow and calm. Twenty minutes after we said goodbye she went home and her sister accidentally killed her, thinking she was an intruder. I was so distraught and remembered all we did was talk about what we were going to do next. So when she was killed I decided to pursue my dream of being a comedienne. I worked midnights at Detroit Receiving Hospital, flew to Chicago from Detroit City Airport, took a bus to Second City, attended classes and flew home in time to start my ER shift. I did that twice a week for two years.

Q: Do you get serious with your patients?

Shelby-Lane: Yes, I teach them how to take care of their hearts and their health. Everybody thinks this happens to older people, but I work with young athletes and we are seeing teenagers dying on basketball courts from heart issues. It is all very disturbing.

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Q&A with doctor and comedian Cynthia Shelby-Lane, who will speak at the Heart and Vascular Expo in Jackson