Daniel V. Schidlow, MD, Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs, chaired a workshop titled "Rhythmic Healing: Music in Medicine" at the 2018 annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Austin, Texas. The workshop was part of the meeting’s Voices of Medicine and Society series, which included discussions led by scholars and out-of-the-box thinkers.

According to the AAMC, the series is a conference favorite, intended to push the academic medicine community and society to consider new approaches and solutions to health care. Dean Schidlow was joined by neuroscientist Nina Kraus, PhD, Hugh Knowles Professor at Northwestern University, and neurologist Alex Pantelyat, MD, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The three discussed the way the brain processes music in health and disease, and the use of rhythm and melody in the treatment of individuals with cognitive and movement disorders.

The workshop concluded with a short jam session. The presenters, along with audience members, played music using a harmonica, violin and rhythmic noise, over the sound of human brain waves captured by Dr. Kraus during her research.