The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) is hosting a landmark scientific program, Music, Science &Medicine: Frontiers in Biomedical Research &Clinical Applications (www.nyas.org/musicscience), to explore the connection between physiology of the human body and music therapy. The main goal is fostering cross-disciplinary and explicit dialogue among basic researches studying physiology of disease and music therapists. Two of the members of a multidisciplinary organizing committee (see CONFERENCE PLAN), Paula Tallal, PhD, Board of Governor's Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, and Dori Berger, MT-BC, Director of The Music Therapy Clinic, Norwalk, are the Principal Investigators for this grant. The activity, one of the first focused not only on neurocognitive mechanisms, but also on other physiological processes, will include a one-day conference, to be held March 25, 2011 in New York City, and the production of a high-quality electronic enduring material, called eBriefing, to provide user-friendly access to this information to a wider public. Participants will overview why and how music elements can be utilized as a medical intervention to modify pathophysiological responses (Session I and keynote speaker) and participate in an explicit dialogue between basic research and clinical music in the context of specific children and adult diagnoses where a link between physiology and music treatment has been proven (Sessions II and III). The agenda will thus feature speaker pairs formed by one researcher and one music therapist who will deliver result- and evidence-based presentations on the physiology or music treatment of dementia, autism, language acquisition problems, pain, or coma. Submitted abstracts addressing additional science research and clinical music work (through videos and posters) will further widen the scope of the conference and expand on other relevant diagnoses. Networking breaks will be available, including an evening cocktail reception concurrent with the poster and video display session, and travel fellowships be offered to encourage participation from minority and young investigators. During lunch, there will be two parallel workshops addressing how clinical music therapy techniques aid the reorganization of sensory, cognitive, and emotional deficits. Target audience includes multidisciplinary participation (200+ attendees) such as members of the complementary and alternative medicine community interested in main-body medicine, music therapists, physiologists, psychiatrists, speech pathologists, social workers, geriatricians, neurologists, neuroscientists, and lay public, among others. We expect that the discussions originating from this symposium and their dissemination will promote collaborations aimed at integrating disease physiology, music physiology, and music therapy, and an improved translation of scientific discoveries into music-based clinical treatments of disease.
Our one-day conference is designed to foster cross-disciplinary and explicit dialogue among basic researches studying physiological function and music therapists, focusing not only on neurocognitive mechanisms but also on other processes such as hormonal and metabolic responses, pain control, and motor functions. The program overviews the clinical application of music, and features several pairs of speakers composed by a researcher and a music therapist who will address areas of children or adult disease where an explicit link between physiology and music treatment has been proven (autism, stress, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, coma, and pain). Submitted abstracts covering additional science research and music therapy clinical work (through videos and posters) will further expand on the subject of populations and diagnoses served and researched. The discussions among participants, their dissemination through a web-based enduring piece, and new collaborations generated at the meeting will encourage a more effective communication and translation of current scientific knowledge into music-based clinical treatments, ultimately benefiting patients with devastating disorders.
