Affinity Groups

The goals of Affinity Groups for the Sound Health Network are to:

facilitate connections among stakeholders who have a mutual interest in music and health
facilitate cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration (e.g., researchers, music therapists, musicians)
provide a forum to discuss topics of interest (e.g., appropriate control conditions, study designs, music interventions, training)
build community and provide support

Student Affinity Group

Rebecca Menza
UCSF Nursing PhD program
Student Affinity Group Lead

Rebecca Menza is a PhD candidate studying at UCSF under the mentorship of Drs. Julene Johnson and Heather Leutwyler (UCSF), Dr. Jill Howie-Esquivel (UVA), and Dr. Xiao Hu (Duke). For her doctoral work, Rebecca is using... Read more mixed methods to examine the use of music for symptom management in a diverse, critically ill and injured population. She plans to translate these findings into post-doctoral work focused on clinical outcomes such as delirium, coma, post-traumatic stress, mood, and cognitive function. After obtaining a Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Vermont in 1994,Rebecca began her nursing career as an inpatient oncology nurse and later transitioned to surgical critical care.Alongside her studies, Rebecca maintains a practice as an acute care nurse practitioner (UCSF 2006) on the trauma and critical care service at San Francisco General Hospital.

Clarissa Karlsson
Drexel Creative Arts Therapies PhD program
Student Affinity Group Co-Lead

Clarissa Lacson is a PhD candidate examining interdisciplinary collaboration between pediatric music therapists and their multidisciplinary team members under the mentorship of Drs. Joke Bradt, Rose-Ann DiMaria-Ghalili,... Read more and Rajashi Ghosh (Drexel), Dr. Helen Shoemark(Temple), and Dr. Katharine Kelly(George Washington University). She is currently involved in Dr. Joke Bradt’s Music, Creativity, and Wellness Lab at Drexel University, studying music therapy and pain management. She has 8 years of clinical experience as a music therapist in pediatric and psychiatric settings. Prior to becoming a music therapist, Clarissa was a freelance professional cellist in the Baltimore/Washington area. She studied cello performance under Alan Stepansky, Associate Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

If you are interested in getting more involved in the Student Affinity Group, please create a Profile in the Sound Health Network Directory and identify yourself as a student (as your “discipline”). We hope to host a virtual introductory chat on the SHN virtual networking platform in the fall.

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Student Affinity Group