Perspectives in Performing Arts Medicine Practice: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Performing Arts Medicine (PAM) is a growing area of specialization within the performing arts field, which addresses the multi-faceted health and wellness of performing artists. This sub-discipline within performing arts is interdisciplinary in nature, involving the expertise of performing arts educators and researchers, physicians and other health professionals. This first of its kind text appeals to a very wide audience that includes performing arts clinical practitioners and health science researchers as well as performing arts pedagogues and performing arts students.

The first part of the text gives the reader an overview of the field and discusses over-arching themes and issues in PAM. Part two presents an array of music and dance research involving primarily case studies that address significant issues of concern for performing artists and have implications for pedagogical practice. Part three provides research-based perspectives derived from professionalssharing their in-practice experiences. Finally, part four describes useful PAM models of implementation supporting the needs of performing artists in different settings.

Written by experts in the field, Perspectives in Performing Arts Medicine Practice is a valuable resource for performing arts physicians, educators and researchers.

Sang-Hie Lee, PhD, EdD, MM, is a Professor of Music at the University of South Florida. She is the author of 65 scholarly publications and is featured in four Compact Discs by Ravello, Centaur, Capstone, and Albany labels. Lee is the author of Scholarly Research for Musicians (Routledge) and the founding Editor of the Cultural Expressions in Music Monographs Series (College Music Society). She is the Director of the USF-PAMA Conferences and the USF-PAMA-The Music Gallery Piano Pedagogy Symposia.

Lee papers are published in Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Psychomusicology, Médicine des Arts, the American Music Teacher, Piano Bulletin of European Piano Teachers Association, Australian Journal of Music Education, The College Music Symposium, the International Society for Music Education Conference Proceedings, and European Journal of Integrative Medicine. She also published reviews and abstracts in Psychology of Music, The Piano Quarterly, the Bulletin of the Council of Research in Music Education, Conference on Piano Pedagogy Proceedings, Music Teachers National Association, and Music Educators National Conference. Her research is introduced in the inaugurating MENC Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, Music, Motor Control and the Brain, the Pianist’s Reference Guide, Pianographie, the Piano Quarterly, and the Journal of the American Liszt Society. 

Merry Lynn Morris, MFA, PhD is the Assistant Director for the University of South Florida Dance Program and has served on the dance faculty since 1998. Dr. Morris applies her movement expertise in novel and diverse ways, pursuing interdisciplinary endeavors that yield innovative products. Her interdisciplinary work includes disability studies, design, architecture, engineering, and health sciences. She has enjoyed being part of the USF-Performing Arts Medicine Collaborative since its inception, working closely with colleagues Dr. Sang-Hie Lee (founder) and Dr. Santo Nicosia on multiple initiatives.

Morris is active in the dance and disability community at local, regional, national and international levels through teaching, research, leadership and activism. She collaborates frequently with Arts4All Florida, a statewide arts and disability organization, works closely with REVolutions Dance, an integrated dance company and program based in Florida, and serves in Dance/USA’s Dance and Disability Affinity Group.

Dr. Morris’ artistic and scholarly research often explores the interface between human bodies and objects – the tension through which agency and power is negotiated in these relationships and the way identity is de-constructed/reconstructed. This interest coalesced with her work in disability, leading her to re-conceptualize the design of assistive technology from a dance perspective. She has worked collaboratively across the domains of dance and engineering to invent new mobility devices for use in and outside of dance. The project has received national and international recognition and several patented chair prototypes have been developed. Dr. Morris has been featured/interviewed by MSNBC, PBS, CNN, NPR’s Science Friday, the Reader’s Digest, and the Inventor’s Digest (cover story). Her invention has been featured at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where she has also been a guest speaker and a profiled inventor (2018-19). She has earned five U.S. Patents and her research scholarship appears in the Journal of Technology and Innovation, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation, Research in Dance Education, Medical Science Educator and the Journal of Dance Education.

Dr. Morris continues to pursue research and study in the area of dance medicine and science. She is a member and regular presenter at the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS).

Santo V. Nicosia, MD, is Distinguished University of South Florida Professor and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. Dr. Nicosia’s basic and clinical research has focused on ovarian cancer biology and on the cytological diagnosis of breast cancer. His research has been extramurally funded for a total of over ten million dollars and is illustrated in 176 manuscripts and 19 book chapters. After serving in several professional societies, he is currently on the editorial advisory boards of CytoJournal and the Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology. As scientific reviewer, he serves as member of the National Cancer Institute Review Panel on Specialized Programs of Research Excellence in Cancer and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer. He is Past Secretary-Treasurer of the American Society of Cytopathology and Past-President of the History of Pathology Society, an organization which he currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer.  For the past several years, he has been listed in the Guide to America’s Top Physicians and cited in the Best Doctors in America - Southeast Region.

In 2011, Dr. Nicosia was asked by former Dean Stephen Klasko to represent the College of Medicine in the University of South Florida’s Performing Arts Medicine Program directed by Professor Sang-Hie Lee. This opportunity opened a new and exciting field of interest and collaboration for him with contributions as Scientific Program Director and Session Chair to the Conferences in Performing Arts Medicine held in Tampa in 2014, 2015 and 2018.