About AMEND

Directed by Joanne Loewy DA, LCAT, MT-BC the Assessment of Music Experiences in Navigating Depression (AMEND) investigates the clinical and ‘socially prescribed’ impact of music and music therapy experiences across several distinct populations prone to depression. Through inter-disciplinary collaboration and access to a variety of music contexts, our team will assess how live music through its cultural and social potential may alter the functioning of key mood qualifiers where music’s influence will reach those most susceptible to depression: from early childhood to adolescence, college students, prenatal parents who have expereinced preterm birth, to adults with mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Joanne Loewy and her team, in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute will provide expert consultation on music therapy assessment, as well as social music contexts inclusive of Wellbeing concerts-addressing music use and aesthetic/historic influences and physiological stress measures to promote a better understanding of social music and individual music therapy contexts as a potential modifier of depression symptomatology.

The laboratory also has the capacity to assess a range of music therapy and psychological tests, and offers clinical care to children, teens and adults with mental and neurological health needs. Our team has established protocols for psychobehavioral and neurocognitive tests that can be administered in the field as well as in this laboratory.

Partnerships

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AMEND (Assessment of Music Experiences in Navigating Depression)

This NEA lab at the Icahn School of Medicine support’s Mount Sinai’s Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine specific focus on the Arts, Health, and Social/Emotional Well-Being. Our research focus aims to provide therapeutic approaches in connection with community-based arts organizations. In enhancing social engagement and overall well-being through music and music therapy, we will address individuals who are prone to, or have been diagnosed with depression across a spectrum of ages, in populations that are particularly vulnerable to depression.

The AMEND lab will measure the benefits of music participation in a live individual and group intervention context to address depression and social/emotional wellbeing. In partnership with Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute, our study’s focus on depression across populations will include children, teens, college students, parent(s) of neonates and older adults with mild cognitive impairment within a two-year time frame.

Specific research questions we expect to focus on include:

How do music programs specifically developed to target depression, influence quality of life, mood, range of affect, and resilience in education and medical communities?
What are the music mechanisms that can help to distinctly identify the critical characteristics of depression that lead toward better treatment outcomes?
Which specific modes of music participation render the highest levels of participant emotional investment?

– Using mixed-methods research approaches, the lab will conduct a series of studies examining the impact of music through various modes of engagement, including music concerts and music therapy sessions. Pre- and post-intervention data will be collected from participants on outcomes such as depression and resilience, mood and affect, sleep quality, and quality of life.

Planned research experiences including “Well-being” music concerts. research articles, conference presentations, and a standardized assessment tool & manual that will inform creative arts therapists and other healthcare professionals about the impact that music engagement may have in depression. Additional partners include Jon Batiste, Cooper Union, Third Street Music School, Young Adults Institute, and Lincoln Center Moments.

Our Research Team

Joanne Loewy DA, LCAT, MT-BC

Lead Investigator

Joanne Loewy is the Director of the Department of Music Therapy, and an Associate Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a Founding Member of the International Association for Music and Medicine, and Editor in Chief of the international, peer reviewed journal ‘Music and Medicine’

Christopher Pizzute MA, LCAT, MT-BC

Site Designer, Music Therapist

Christopher Pizzute, MA, MT-BC works in inpatient oncology and radiation oncology. He received his Masters in music therapy from Montclair State University and his Bachelor’s degree in music composition/music theory. His areas of expertise extend to palliative, psychiatric, pediatric and neonatal care.

Andrew Rossetti PhD, LCAT, MT-BC

Music Therapist

Andrew Rossetti, PhD, LCAT, MT-BC directs the multi-site music therapy oncology programs. His practice extends to the infusion suite, surgery, and the neonatal intensive care unit. Andrew specializes in treating emotional trauma and its sequelae. Having developed several music therapy programs in hospitals in the US and Europe, he has lectured extensively there, in South America, and Asia. He completed his doctorate at the University of Jyvaskyla.

Wendy Neal MD

Co-Investigator

Wendy Neal, MD, currently serves as Interim Chief of the Division of Adolescent Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and the Medical Director of the Adolescent Health Center. Dr. Neal received her medical and master’s degrees from Tulane University School of Medicine and Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She completed her Pediatric Residency and Adolescent Medicine Fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. With a wealth of leadership experience in clinical and academic medicine, Dr. Neal has devoted her career to enhancing access to care and developing community service programs for adolescents and young adults. She has a strong track record in clinical research, securing institutional and federal grants, and contributing to the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine’s national program planning committee. Additionally, Dr. Neal has been instrumental in delivering ACGME-mandated content and providing individualized instruction to pediatric residents and adolescent medicine fellows.

Kristen Stewart MA, LCAT, MT-BC

Music Therapist

Kristen Stewart oversees the Department of Music Therapy and is a PhD candidate at Temple University. She holds two post-graduate certifications in trauma treatment, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and has advanced training in NICU and Neurologic Music Therapy.

Preanka Singh MPH

Research Coordinator II

Preanka Kaur Singh, Research Coordinator II MPH earned a Master of Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, where they also completed a certificate in Public Health Research Methods through the Department of Population and Family Health. With approximately five years of experience, they have worked on a clinical research study at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, exploring the effects of environmental exposures on child health and development. Preanka is particularly interested in developing culturally appropriate therapeutic interventions to address intergenerational trauma within historically marginalized communities.

Joyce Fogel MD

Co-Investigator

Dr. Joyce Fogel is a clinical professor Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Senior Director of Educations for Geriatrics Mount Sinai Beth Israel. She has been involved in academic and clinical geriatrics throughout her career-including teaching medical students,residents and fellows. Her interests include Geriatric assessment, dementia, delirium,polypharmacy and community outreach and education. She has presented locally and nationally on various Geriatric topics. Dr. Fogel maintains an outpatient practice at the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Downtown Union Square.

Tammy Takaishi, M.Ed., MA, MT-BC

Music Therapist

Tammy Takaishi, M.Ed., MA, MT-BC is a Board Certified-Music Therapist with a Master of Arts in Music Therapy from Montclair State University. She has worked in a variety of settings from school-based, home health, to hospice. Ms. Takaishi also holds a Master’s from the University of Missouri-Columbia where she specialized in strings education. Ms. Takaishi is an advocate for the music therapy field having served as a delegate for the SWAMTA region of AMTA for two years, and as a member of the Texas State Task Force for State Licensure for a decade prior to moving back to the East Coast. In her free time, she enjoys running and hosting her creative arts podcast, Creative Peacemeal, which focuses on authentic stories in the arts.

Stephan Quentzel MD, JD, MA

Psychiatrist

Stephan Quentzel, MD, JD, MA is a graduate of integrated dual residencies in family medicine and psychiatry. An assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine, he teaches psychiatrists and psychiatry residents to collaborate with their primary care colleagues to pursue best practices in approaches to psychiatry.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not represent the views of the National Endowment for the Arts Office of Research & Analysis or the National Endowment for the Arts. The National Endowment for the Arts does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information included in this material and is not responsible for any consequences of its use.