The connection between music and medicine is an old one, stretching back through the ages to ancient Greece. Apollo, the Greek god of healing and music, was the father of both Asclepius and the Muses. The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, has endured as the symbol of medicine to this day.
So it was fitting when the Boonshoft School of Medicine hosted its first Music and Medicine Symposium in June. Billed as an “Improvisation in Music, Medicine, and Life,” the daylong symposium explored the meeting of these seemingly separate worlds through a series of interesting talks and inspiring musical performances by faculty scientists, physicians, and musicians, as well as special guests.
The event, co-sponsored by the WSU Department of Music and the Boonshoft School of Medicine, also featured internationally renowned opera singers Rodrick Dixon and Alfreda Burke, who delivered the keynote presentation and participated in the encore concert that concluded the event. VS
