Can music improve medical outcomes?

About this Event

Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences and The Science & Entertainment Exchange Present:

This Too Shall Pass: Creativity in the Time of COVID-19

One of the most visible and immediate creative responses to COVID-19 was musical. Videos quickly went viral on social media platforms showing homebound apartment dwellers playing instruments from their small balconies to form makeshift bands and impromptu orchestras. It was a small but meaningful way to connect with neighbors. Pop stars, music students, and Broadway ensembles joined in, further demonstrating the way in which creativity survives – even thrives – to see us through difficult circumstances. Music heals the soul and buoys the heart, calming us down and pumping us up. Indeed, there is science to support the platitudes, with ample evidence that shows the impact music can have in clinical settings. Join us to learn more about how music has been deployed in hospitals to improve both physical and mental health.

Speakers:

Claudius Conrad is the chief of general surgery and surgical oncology at Saint Elizabeth Medical Center, associate professor of Tufts University School of Medicine, director of the Boston Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Center and program director of the minimally invasive hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery fellowship. He is recognized internationally as an expert on the role of music in medicine and has just released his celebrated CD Healing Hands with Steinway & Sons Record Label.

Hailed by the the New York Times for his "glowing tone,” "insightful musicianship," and "sumptuous elegance,” cellist Andrew Janss has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Bruce Springsteen, and Lana Del Rey. He performs for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has toured with the cello rock band Break of Reality throughout Asia and the Americas. He is the Co-Director of Project: Music Heals Us.

Indre Viskontas combines a passion for music with scientific curiosity, as a neuroscientist, science communicator and opera director. On faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the University of San Francisco and The Great Courses, she is also the Creative Director of Pasadena Opera and hosts the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds. She has several TV, internet and national radio appearances, and recently published her first book How Music Can Make You Better.