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

Sarah McKiddy
University of Washington
Nursing Science PhD program
Student Affinity Group Lead

Sarah McKiddy is a PhD in Nursing Science student at the University of Washington and the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging Pre-doctoral Scholar. Her research interests include cognitive health, reframing aging, health equity, and music-... Read more based interventions for people living with dementia and their care partners. Her background as a professional musician and educator combined with her training as a nurse catalyzed and influenced her pathway toward researching the intersections between music and health. Sarah is currently involved as the research coordinator for UW Medicine's Cognition in Primary Health program and the media relations specialist for the UW School of Nursing's Dementia & Palliative Education Network.

Aaron Colverson
University of Florida
Ethnomusicology PhD program
Student Affinity Group Co-Lead

Aaron Colverson is a PhD candidate at the University of Florida in Ethnomusicology, with partnering research in Neuropsychology. He graduated from Berklee College of Music with a BM in Professional Music focused on jazz... Read more violin performance after which, he moved to Nairobi, Kenya for two years, embedding himself in East African musical traditions and cultures. His contributions to academic literature are broad from arts participation and well-being to music/sound-induced permeability of the blood-brain barrier. Aaron is currently studying rhythm perception, learning, and performance in the healthy aging population using a mixed-methods approach involving neuropsychological assessment, a music lesson, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. He received a fellowship to study music and prosocial interaction in Alzheimer’s disease and endeavors to build cross-disciplinary competency between ethnomusicology and neuropsychology in the context of gerontology.

Rebecca Menza
UCSF Nursing
PhD program
Former Student Affinity Group Co-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 mixed methods to... Read more 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 Lacson
Drexel Creative Arts Therapies
PhD program
Former 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, and Rajashi Ghosh... Read more (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.

Darina V. Petrovsky, PhD, RN
Rutgers University
School of Nursing
Student Affinity Group Mentor

Before joining Rutgers University in Summer 2021, Darina Petrovsky, PhD, RN was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing funded by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award... Read more (NRSA) Individual Fellowship (F32 AG060630). She received her PhD in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. Prior to her doctoral work, she received a Masters in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University (2011) and a Bachelors of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan (2009). Her unique background in music training and nursing science has positioned her well to launch her research career with the goal of improving the lives of older adults living with cognitive impairment using non-pharmacologic approaches. She was a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Pre-Doctoral Fellow (F31 AG055148) and her past accomplishments include being selected as a 2014-2016 National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence Patricia G. Archbold Scholar and 2014-2016 Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar.

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.

Search form

You are here

Student Affinity Group