Read more... Theresa Allison is a Professor of Medicine in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. She is a board-certified family physician and geriatrician and a PhD-trained ethnomusicologist. She studies the role of music in everyday life in nursing homes, senior centers and the homes of people living with dementia. She also makes medical house calls in Santa Rosa, CA.

My research involves the longitudinal ethnographic study of music in dementia caregiving relationships with a focus on the ways in which music as social event builds community, supports relationships and enhances well-being.

Read more... Christopher Bailey is the Arts and Health Lead at the World Health Organization, a program he initiated two and a half years ago which now encompasses a global network of research institutions in every region of the world, and with activations and community projects in all artistic genres across the spectrum of health and wellbeing issues. Prior to this work, Bailey was the Coordinator of Online Communications at WHO, and prior to that the founder and Coordinator of WHO's health informatics program. Prior to his 20 year WHO career, he was the Research Manager at the Rockefeller Foundation. During his 20s and early thirties he was a professional actor and playwright based in New York City. He attended Columbia and Oxford Universities, Pratt Institute, as well as the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Within the larger spectrum of Arts and Health, the music component of Bailey's work has centered on the use of music for psycho social support of displaced or recovering communities in emergency settings, youth development, support of mental health, as well as interventions associated with aging, such as dementia. Bailey's program at WHO focuses on building the evidence base of Arts and Health to make policy recommendations to Member States, implement effective practice in the most underserved communities, and to marshal the global media to advocate the use of the arts for improved physical, mental and social wellbeing. He is the co founder of the Healing Arts Initiative.

Read more... Dr. Joke Bradt, PhD, MT-BC is Professor and Program Director of the PhD in Creative Arts Therapies program at Drexel University and a board-certified music therapist. Her federally funded research is focused on the use of music therapy for chronic pain and symptom management. She recently completed two NIH-funded clinical trials: a multi-site mechanistic trial on music therapy for chronic pain management in people with advanced cancer and a study examining the impact of music therapy on opioid tapering in cancer survivors with chronic pain. As a research team member of Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, she has investigated the impact of music therapy on clinical outcomes in service members with posttraumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and other psychological health concerns. She is known internationally for her expertise in mixed methods research and systematic review methodology. She is the lead author of several Cochrane Systematic Reviews on music interventions with medical patients. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy.

  Dr. Joke Bradt leads the Music, Creativity and Wellness Lab at Drexel University. Her research is focused examining the impact of music therapy interventions on chronic pain and symptom management and investigating underlying mechanisms.

Read more... Chérmelle D. Edwards is a writer, photographer and cultural strategist working across the platforms of social media, helping businesses and organizations tell their story. For over ten years she’s crafted copy, ad campaigns and social media activations for a variety of clients in the fashion, hospitality and lifestyle industries. She graduated from UCLA with an English Degree and a specialization in creative writing. She has written for online platforms such as Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Guardian,, Cool Hunting and Inside Hook. She’s traveled the world professionally and personally documenting specialty coffee, its culture and tits origins for a ten-years and running independent webzine called The Coffeetographer, which she founded and is its sole author. She and/or her work have been featured in The Washington Post, Drift NY, Vogue, Fodor’s Travel, Mic.Com, Atlanta Blackstar, Business Week, The Specialty Coffee Chronicle, Serious Eats, VSCO, T Magazine, Creative Mornings, Refinery 29, New Heroes and Pioneers, Brygg Magasin and more.

Read more... Jennifer currently serves in the role of Immediate Past President of the American Music Therapy Association, Inc. (AMTA). Primarily working with older adults in long term and memory care, she was a private practice business owner for 20 years. During this time, she was a clinical supervisor and course instructor for the University of the Pacific in both Stockton, and the San Francisco Master’s in Music Therapy program. A nonprofit leader for nearly 30 years, Jennifer is a longtime legislative advocate for music therapy, which led to the passage of AB 1540 in 2019 providing Title Protection for Board Certified Music Therapists in California. She is a doctoral candidate in the EdD program Transformative Action in Education at the University of the Pacific’s Benerd College. Jennifer is a third-generation Californian, living on Ohlone land, a parent of two college-bound daughters, spouse of a retired police officer, and volunteer with the First Responder Support Network. Her research focuses on the lived experiences of spouses of those first responders diagnosed with PTSD. Her doctoral studies have focused on reflexivity, inclusion, equity leadership, power dynamics, and dismantling oppressive organizational structures. Self-care practices include engaging in self-compassion, movement, creativity, and time with loved ones.

I am curious about the benefits of bringing music into a 6-day residential treatment program for significant others and spouses of first responders. Many of these individuals are in relationship with first responders who have been diagnosed with PTSD and are in need of their own treatment/support for intrusive symptoms.

Read more... I am an aspiring medical professional interested in exploring how music can function as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings. I received my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. During that time and continuing after graduation, I have worked with the Sound and Music Perception Lab at UCSF where I assisted on multiple projects in the music cognition and music perception fields. Of note, I designed and tested a project studying pitch and timbre interaction in cochlear implant users, as well as contributed to a fMRI case study about the blind jazz piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker. I also operate as a medical scribe/assistant for an otolaryngology clinic in the Sacramento area.

My current research focus is based in music cognition, specifically studying the neural correlates of artistic creativity. My lab has run a series of case studies aimed at studying uniquely creative musicians who would normally be excluded from group studies. In the context of our case study of a blind jazz piano prodigy, it also has allowed for a better understanding of the functional reorganization of the brain due to blindness and its relation to musicality and creativity.

Read more... Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, PhD, MT-BC is an Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Music Education at the University of Kansas. She has 27 years of clinical experience primarily with infants in medical and community-based settings and has been a music therapy educator for 17 years. She leads the baby-Music Intervention Research (MIR) lab at KU with a focus on developing and strengthening theory, design, research, and practice of music interventions particularly for infants and families. The baby-MIR lab endeavors to promote translational research in a collaborative transdisciplinary framework. Dr. Hanson-Abromeit developed the Therapeutic Function of Music Plan as a framework to identify the specific features of music elements as the active agent for change in music interventions and to deepen the theoretical understanding of how and why music functions for change. She actively mentors research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students as future music interventionists and applied researchers. Dr. Hanson-Abromeit is a board-certified music therapist and a member of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and International Congress of Infant Studies. She was the 2020 recipient of the AMTA Research and Publication Award and the 2019 recipient of the KU Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor Award.

Building music intervention science by developing and strengthening the theory, design, research and translation of music interventions for stronger understanding and connection of the therapeutic role of music to promote developmental capacity, health and well-being for children and their families.

Read more... Petr Janata is a Professor in the Psychology Department and Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, USA. He received his B.A. from Reed College and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. After investigating song perception and song learning in songbirds as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, he went to Dartmouth College and incorporated functional neuroimaging methods into his music perception research. His research on how the human brain engages with music has examined expectation, imagery, sensorimotor coupling, memory, and emotion in relation to tonality, rhythm, and timbre. His work also emphasizes the use of models of musical structure to analyze behavioral and brain data. He has pioneered psychological and brain research examining musical situations that elicit strong emotional experiences, such as music-evoked remembering or the state of, “being in the groove.” He is the recipient of two Fulbright research fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Templeton Advanced Research Program award from the Metanexus Institute, and grant funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the GRAMMY Foundation.

Read more... Dr. Julene K Johnson is a cognitive neuroscientist with an undergraduate degree in music. She is a Professorin the UCSF School of Nursing's Institute for Health & Aging and co-director of the Sound Health Network. She has a long-standing interest in studying music and health in both healthy aging and persons living with dementia. Her previous work investigated preserved music skills in persons with Alzheimer disease and understanding the relationship between brain and music recognition in various neurodegenerative diseases.  In 2010, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Jyväskylä, Finland where she studied how community choirs help promote wellbeing among older adults. Funded by the National Institute on Aging, Dr. Johnson recently completed a large cluster-randomized trial that examined the effects of a community choir on the health and wellbeing of culturally diverse older adults.  Dr. Johnson also examines the historical roots of music in nineteenth-century neurology and psychology literature, which helps frame interdisciplinary research questions about music, brain, and health. She is a co-author of the NEA Guide to Community-Engaged Research in the Arts and Health (2016).  In her spare time, she plays the flute and kantele and sings in a community choir.

Read more... Launched in 2016 under the leadership of Renée Fleming and Dr. Francis Collins, Sound Health is a partnership between the Kennedy Center and National Institutes of Health, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts. In its role as the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, the NIH is supporting studies that explore these key questions. And in its role as the nation’s performing arts center, the Kennedy Center seeks to provide a platform for artists, researchers, neuroscientists, and music therapists to bring this fascinating work to a broader public.

Read more... Miriam Lense, PhD., is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she co-directs the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab. As a clinical scientist and licensed clinical psychologist, she specializes in working with families and children with and without developmental disabilities including autism. Dr. Lense’s research investigates mechanisms underlying musical and social interactions with a particular focus on parent-child interactions in early childhood. She also develops and studies community engagement opportunities and music-based interventions for supporting children and families. Her research is supported by the NIH Sound Health Initiative, NIDCD, and the National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. She is a member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, the Inclusion Network of Nashville, and the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Lense is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with families of children with and without developmental disabilities including autism. As Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab, her current research focuses on music, rhythm, and social communication in early childhood interactions and music-based interventions to support child social development and family well-being. Her research involves collaborations with neuroscientists, speech scientists, music therapists, psychologists, and community arts organizations.

Read more... Dr. Charles Limb is the Francis A. Sooy Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the Chief of the Division of Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at UC San Francisco. He is also the Director of the Douglas Grant Cochlear Implant Center at UCSF and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Limb is the immediate Past-President of the American Auditory Society and is also the Co-Director for the Sound Health Network sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with the NIH. He is also the PI of a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab that studies the neural basis of musical creativity. His work on creativity and music perception in cochlear implant users has been featured in media and venues worldwide including National Public Radio, TED, 60 Minutes, National Geographic, the New York Times, PBS, CNN, Scientific American, the British Broadcasting Company, the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, the Sundance Film Festival, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Wired, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the American Museum of Natural History. He was named as one of the Kennedy Center’s “Next 50” in 2022.

I am a hearing specialist and ear surgeon, and the Chief of Otology at UCSF. I study how creativity unfolds in the brain in musicians, as well as music perception in cochlear implant users with debilitating hearing loss. I also Co-Direct the Sound Health Network at UCSF that examines and promotes research into the impact of music on health and well-being.

Read more... Matt is a music therapist who works in hematology, oncology, BMT, and pediatric rehabilitation. He studied at the University of Iowa and completed his internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He has worked in a variety of settings since 2009, but has been at BCH since 2016. In addition to music therapy, Matt studied jazz guitar in college. He’s been playing in jazz and rock bands since he was 12 years old and has owned way too many guitars. He continues to perform in the San Francisco Bay Area, and occasionally even goes on tour. Matt directs the music therapy internship program at BCH San Francisco and leads metrics-based improvement projects for the Child Life Services Department. When not at work, you might find him at a rock show or on a park bench with a book. If Matt had a billboard, it would say: "Don't insult your own musicality in front of children." Find Matt for more thoughts on the matter.

  Matt specializes in pediatric music therapy. He initiated the internship program at BCH SF and now directs the program. Matt's advocacy efforts have led many interested students to the field of music therapy, primarily through his website, musictherapysource.com. He was an adjunct lecturer at University of the Pacific and continues to provide lectures, presentations, and keynotes at national and international conferences and events.

Read more... Grainger Marburg, Ed.M, has more than 25 years of professional experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, management consulting and education. He holds a B.A. from Hampshire College and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Before joining Well Being Trust, Grainger served as the CEO of RAFT – Resource Area for Teaching, where he succeeded the founder and guided the organization through its first executive transition in 20 years. Highlights of his past experience also include a two-year teaching assignment in Micronesia as a Peace Corps Volunteer and managing a comprehensive neighborhood improvement initiative in east San Jose with the former Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Grainger appreciates many genres of music, all of which contribute to his mental and emotional well-being.

Read more... A truly visionary conductor, curator and producer, Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His effortless ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with a wide range of artists, ranging from Metallica to Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma. He is, in the words of his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, “one of the most innovative conductors on the scene today.” Edwin Outwater is Music Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, overseeing their ensembles, as well as shaping the artistic initiatives of this dynamic institution as a whole. Recent appearances include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony and New World Symphony as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert series opening the Steinmetz Hall in Florida. International appearances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, the Brussels Philharmonic, BBCNOW, the New Zealand Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Malmö Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Edwin Outwater holds a long association with the San Francisco Symphony. The 2021/2022 season sees performances in their SoundBox Series, concert appearances with Boyz II Men, and the world premiere of a Judy Garland Centennial concert. This season also includes the fourth annual performance of Holiday Gaiety, an LGBTQ holiday concert he created with drag performer Peaches Christ. Previously, Outwater was San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor, Director of Summer Concerts and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Read more... Samora Pinderhughes is a composer/pianist/vocalist known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics alongside high-level musicianship. He is also known for his use of music to examine sociopolitical issues and fight for change. His music is renowned for its emotionality, its honesty about difficult and vulnerable topics, and its careful details in word and sound. Pinderhughes has collaborated and performed with many artists across boundary and scene including Sara Bareilles, Glenn Ligon, Daveed Diggs, Lalah Hathaway, Herbie Hancock and many more. He works frequently with rapper/actor Common on compositions for music & film, and is a featured member on the new albums August Greene and Let Love with Common, Robert Glasper, Boom Bishop, and Karriem Riggins. Samora’s compositional works have been commissioned by institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Kennedy Center, and he has toured internationally with artists including Branford Marsalis, Christian Scott, Jose James, and Emily King. Samora was also the 2020 recipient of Chamber Music America’s Visionary Award.

Read more... Lauren has worked in the music therapy profession for 9+ years, gaining experience in pediatrics, mental health, special education, and hospice. As a seasoned Board-Certified Music Therapist, she is passionate about providing evidenced based and quality care to patients and families through music modalities. She has pioneered music therapy services at a variety of Bay Area pediatric units including her work in private practice. Her current role involves direct clinical work on inpatient UCSF BCH-Oakland oncology units and working with the UCSF BCH-Oakland trauma team. In addition to inpatient clinical work, she is also involved in her institution’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee and Integrative Medicine Committee. Lauren has dedicated her career to helping patients and families navigate challenging experiences through the practice of music therapy. She is certified in Neurologic Music Therapy as well as Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Music Therapy and earned her Master’s degree from University of the Pacific.

She has pioneered music therapy services at a variety of Bay Area pediatric units including her previous work in private practice. A leader in the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee on the Patient Care Task Force. Speaker and presenter on framing music therapy though social and healing justice frameworks.

Read more... Sam Rodgers-Melnick, MPH, MT-BC is a music therapist and integrative health research & data specialist focused on investigating the effectiveness of integrative therapies at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health. Sam received his Bachelor of Science in Music Therapy from Duquesne University and his Master of Public Health degree from Case Western Reserve University.

As a music therapist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Sam developed several interventions directed at improving pain management outcomes for adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Sam served as PI for two consecutive research grants from the Kulas Foundation (Cleveland, OH) that funded music therapy research studies in SCD. These studies included 1) a mixed-methods RCT investigating the effects of music therapy on acute pain in patients with SCD receiving care in an outpatient infusion center; 2) a study investigating the effects of the BEATS (Build Educate Advance Transition in Sickle cell disease) music therapy program on self-efficacy, trust, knowledge, and adherence in young adult patients with SCD; 3) a survey of music use in 100 adults with SCD; and 4) a mixed-methods RCT investigating the effects of a multi-session intervention on quality of life and chronic pain in individuals with SCD. Sam currently serves as a co-investigator for Effectiveness of Medical Music Therapy Practice: Integrative Research using the Electronic Health Record (EMMPIRE). EMMPIRE includes a series of studies examining the clinical effectiveness of over 20,000 music therapy sessions addressing stress, pain, anxiety, and coping across 10 University Hospitals medical centers.

Read more... Julian holds a master’s degree in music therapy from New York University (NYU). While at NYU, Julian completed a music therapy internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and a field placement at Bronx Lebanon Hospital. At MSKCC his clinical experience included the use of song writing, improvisation, lyric analysis and drumming to help patients cope with the physical and psychological effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment. At Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Julian used music to facilitate individual and group sessions for patients dealing with sexual abuse, substance dependency, domestic violence and anger management. In addition, Julian spent time at the Child Study Center at Bronx Lebanon helping adolescents use music as a form of expression in dealing with abuse, violence, neglect, and various psychiatric issues.

As a Music Therapist at Children's Hospital Oakland, I uses music to help patients deal with anxiety, pain and to normalize the hospital stay.

Read more... Robert van Leer began his arts administration career in the programming office at Lincoln Center mentored by two icons of the arts administrative field: Bill Lockwood and Jane S. Moss. From 1996-2011, as Head of Music and Arts Projects at the Barbican Centre in London he oversaw concert hall’s transformation into a leading creative center, commissioned celebrated artists across genres, and presented performances of these commissions in the concert hall as well as at partner venues across the UK. Between 2011 and 2013, as Managing Director of Nederlandse Dans Theatre, he re-envisioned the mission of the company as a leading creative ensemble whose primacy is investing in the work of visionary choreographers. He delivered the NDT’s first-ever strategic fundraising plan, increased revenue three-fold, and produced a series of live global cinema broadcasts. After a professional break to earn a Masters in Garden Design, van Leer focused on strategic cultural consulting as the managing Director for Wonderbird UK in London. In 2015 he was tapped by President Deborah Rutter to join the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Artistic Planning, where he coordinates the programming of the Center and its resident companies, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, to establish a unified artistic vision for the nation’s busiest performing arts center and living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Since the 2019 opening of the Kennedy Center’s first-ever expansion, the REACH, van Leer has also led the artistic programming for this transformative addition, with flexible indoor and outdoor performance space designed to nurture new art, community, and informal encounters between the artist and the public. van Leer holds a B.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University, and certifications from Columbia University Graduate School of Business, National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and the Inchbald School of Design.