World-Renowned Physician and Musicologist Shares How Music Impacts Patients
Patricia Caicedo, M.D., Ph.D., spoke to medical students at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
FORT WORTH – Mei Mei Edwards, who studied music as an undergrad before attending medical school, has experienced first-hand how music impacts patients.
“I’ve seen loved ones utilizing the patients’ favorite rock song to kind of bring them back and ground them in the moment,” said Edwards, a fourth-year medical student at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
The Burnett School of Medicine students recently learned about research that highlights the impact music can have on patient care from a world-renowned physician and musicologist.
Patricia Caicedo, M.D., Ph.D., who has interdisciplinary training as a musician, musicologist, physician and interest in technology, visited Fort Worth to talk about her new book, “We Are What We Listen To: The Impact of Music On Individual and Social Health” with medical students in October.
“The lecture addressed this ancient connection between music and medicine,” Dr. Caicedo said. “How music affects our well-being, our cognitive health and how it also helps us connect with communities.”
Edwards said music brings in the pscho-social impact of a patient, a human being. “To me that was a very powerful aspect of Dr. Caicedo’s presentation of how music and even memory kind of come together,” she said.
Dr. Caicedo’s visit was a part of the THRIVE: Medical Student Well-Being Curriculum at the medical school. THRIVE is the longitudinal, integrated and collaborative system of instruction, learning and support for the School of Medicine students focusing on their well-being.
The goal of THRIVE is the continued development of knowledge, skills and attitudes about wellness for the medical students, according to Craig Keaton, Ph.D., Assistant Director of THRIVE: Medical Student Well-Being Curriculum.
“We’re looking into all the different ways we can build into the curriculum the development of the student as an individual personally and professionally,” Keaton said.