Medical Arts and Humanities Research at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

4th Annual Dartmouth Health Arts and Humanities in Medicine Symposium

Music, art, and humanities in patient care: research and practice

When: January 27, 2023, from 10 am to 3 pm
Where: Via Zoom
Keynote: Music and epilepsy
Michael Casey, PhD
Professor of Music and Computer Science, Dartmouth College
Barbara C. Jobst, MD
Chair, Department of Neurology and Neurocritical Care
The Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neurosciences
Professor of Neurology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth
In discussion with Professor Elizabeth Carpenter-Song and Dr. Manish K. Mishra of Dartmouth Health Care Foundations

View our event brochure (PDF).

Questions? Please contact Marianne Barthel at marianne.l.barthel@hitchcock.org.

Research is an integral part of the work of an academic medical center. More and more, research is demonstrating the benefits of integrating the arts and humanities into a holistic approach to patient care, medical education and supporting emotional and spiritual health.

The Arts and Humanities Program is leading numerous studies about the impact that the arts and humanities have on patients and staff. Recent areas of study include neurology, medical education, palliative care, employee health, and oncology.

Past symposium presentations

2020 symposium presentations

Arts Intervention for Inpatients with Refractory Epilepsy or Migraine: Pilot Feasibility Study
  • Lara K. Ronan, MD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

View the presentation (PDF).


Pilot Study: A Graphic Medicine Curriculum for Neurology Residents
  • Lara K. Ronan, MD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Reading Ourselves, Reading others
  • Kathryn B. Kirkland, MD, Dorothy and John J. Bryne, Jr. Chair in Palliative Medicine

View the presentation (PDF).


Keynote: Existing Research on Arts in Health
  • Heather Stuckey, DEd, Associate Professor of Medicine, Humanities, and Public Health Sciences, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.

View the presentation (PDF).


Getting Creative with a Coached Writing Intervention to Improve Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Cancer: A single arm, rural academic medical center pilot study
  • Vergo, MT, Department of Medicine and Section of Palliative Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
  • Kalssen-Landis M, Creative Writing Coach, Dartmouth Cancer Center

View the presentation (PDF).


Art at Work
  • Kathy Parsonnet, RN, MEd, MPH, Therapeutic Teaching Artist
  • Pamela Tilton, RN, MEd, CHES, CHC, Health and Wellness Coach
  • Marion Cate, MEd, CHES, ACE-CPT, CWWPM, CHC, Manager, Employee Wellness Health Improvement, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

View the presentation (PDF).


The Aseemkala Initiative: Exploring Healing for Women of Color Through Stories in Traditional Dances
  • Shilpa Darivemula, MD, MS, PGY-2, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
  • Rohini Bhatia, MD, PGY-1, Johns Hopkins Medical Center
  • Sriya Bhumi, MBA, Albany Medical College
  • Kritika Amanjee, MBA, Albany Medical College

View the presentation (PDF).


Practicing What We Preach: Teaching Compassion through Experiences in the Humanities
  • Lauren Kascak, MS, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
  • Celestine Warren, BA, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

The Healers' Tales: A Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Story Slam
  • Sevde Felek, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Dartmouth Health Children's
  • Catherine Shubkin, MD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
  • Kelly Rose, Department of Pediatrics, Dartmouth Health Children's

View the presentation (PPTX).


Antiepileptic Properties of Music in Refractory Epilepsy
  • Robert Quon, PhD candidate, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

View the presentation (PDF).

2021 symposium presentations

Creative arts intervention for patients with refractory epilepsy: A preliminary report
  • Lara K. Ronan, MD, FAAN Associate Professor of Neurology and Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine; Vice Chair of Education, Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

View the presentation (PDF).


Telling Our Stories Reinvented: Turning an in-person event into an engaging virtual experience
  • Andrea Buccellato, Manager, Patient and Family Support Services, Dartmouth Cancer Center

View the presentation (PDF).


"Art at Work" Repurposed: Adaptations and accomplishments
  • Marion L. Cate, MEd, CHES, CWWPM, CHC, Manager, Health Improvement Program, Employee Wellness; Instructor in Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine

View the presentation (PDF).


Virtual Perspectives: Art and conversation for people living with memory loss
  • Claire Lyon, Docent, Hood Museum of Art
  • Neely McNulty, Hood Foundation Associate Curator of Education

View the presentation (PDF).


Picturing Contagion: Contextualizing visual iconographies around COVID-19
  • Emily Luy Tan, Dartmouth College, Class of 2020

Evidence Based Design in Health: A COVID College Semester
  • Erin McGee Ferrell, Professional Artist, Art Educator, University of New England Cancer Patient Advocate National Cancer Institute

Keynote: Arts in health research in a post-COVID world
  • Jill Sonke, PhD, Director, University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine

View the presentation (PDF).


Passages of Writes: Medical students fostering connections through shared reading
  • Christopher LaRocca, MD, FAAFP, Clinical Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine
  • Aya Bashi, MS2
  • Lindsay Becker, MS2
  • Rachel Brown, MS2
  • Zachary Panton, MS2

View the presentation (PDF).


What about clinician burnout, anxiety, and PTSD during COVID-19? What are the arts bringing to support them?
  • Alan Siegel, MD, Director, Art of Health and Healing; Founding Board Member NOAH

View the presentation (PDF).


2020 Arts-based initiatives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
  • Mallory Van Fossen, ATR-BC, LCPAT, LPC, Art Therapist; Clinical Coordinator of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s Arts in Health Program

2023 symposium presentations

Beyond the Mozart K448 effect 
  • Michael Casey, PhD, Professor of Music and Computer Science, Dartmouth College 

View the presentation (PDF).


Eliciting the neural basis of music medicine in epilepsy 
  • Barbara C. Jobst, MD, Chair, Department of Neurology and Neurocritical Care, The Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neurosciences, Professor of Neurology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth

View the presentation (PDF).


Antiracist Approaches in Development of Music Interventions 
  • Armond Dorsey, Multidisciplinary Researcher, Performer-Composer Writer

View the presentation (PDF).


Integration of Healing Arts in the Care of Older Adults After Surgery
  • Alexandra Briggs, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

View the presentation (PDF).


Growing an Arts in Health Program in Higher Education 
  • Gaelen McCormick, Director, Eastman Performing Arts Medicine

View the presentation (PDF).


Using Narrative Medicine to Explore Responses to the Positive Exposure Photography Exhibition at DHMC
  • Eleonore Baughan, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth (MS2) and Kathy Kirkland, MD, FAAHPM, Dorothy and John J. Byrne, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Palliative Medicine, Section Chief and Director, Palliative Medicine

View the presentation (PDF).


Feeling is Healing: Cultural Healing through Creative Expression
  • Sage Palmedo

View the presentation (PDF).

Resources

To learn more about research regarding the arts and health, see the following resources: