Melanie Cohn is the Executive Director of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey where she has led the organization in growing its community programs–including the establishment of an art therapy program with New Jersey Veterans Affairs. Under her leadership, the Art Center has received three NEA grants & two IMLS grants. Previously, she led Staten Island Arts, deepening its programs in art & healing, education and folk art. Before that, she spent seven years at the New Museum of Contemporary Art as an administrator in the Curatorial Department.

As Art Curator at Stanford Children’s Health, Antonia Dapena-Tretter believes in the power of art to heal and uses this passion to assemble art installations for the benefit of the hospital’s many patients, families, and staff. She has a master’s degree in Art History from the University of Toronto and over a decade of museum and arts nonprofit experience. Appreciating accessible scholarship, she also enjoys research and has authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, including African Arts, Interdisciplinary Humanities, and Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals. In her free time, she is a volunteer board member at the NIAD Art Center, a progressive art studio serving artists with disabilities.

Dr. Manal Elewah is passionate about art, humanity, and helping people in need. She has worked for multinational organizations service providers delivering engineering consultancies and environmental advices. A multifaceted and highly skilled individual who is highly driven to consistently achieve success as a leader in all of the organizations she has worked with. An outstanding art therapist, a teacher, coach, mentor, manager, and adviser asides being an environmental consultant. She is a board member of some reputable organizations and an active member of several associations.

David Fakunle, PhD is a “mercenary for change,” employing any skill and occupying any space to help elevate everyone divested from their truest self. David serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Florida and Associate Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and his interests include stressors within the built environment, manifestations of racism, and use of arts and culture – specifically storytelling – to strengthen health, achieve equity, and ultimately catalyze liberation. Additionally, David serves as Executive Director of WombWork Productions and CEO of DiscoverME/RecoverME.

David’s interest in NOAH stems from his relationship with the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and the recognition of NOAH as a leading presence for guiding the fusion of arts and culture with public health and medical work. As a professional committed to challenging the existing epistemology of his field, a relationship with NOAH demonstrates acknowledgment that such a challenge is necessary for the health and wellbeing of humanity to be possible. Because of his artistic, cultural scientific, and existential backgrounds, David’s essential contribution to NOAH and its purpose is the living example of how arts and culture can peacefully transform the research, practice, education, advocacy and administration of public health in the United States and internationally. 

As Associate Dean for Innovation, Interdisciplinary Partnerships and Community Initiatives at the Peabody Institute, Sarah Hoover has re-invigorated the institute’s historic engagement with organizations throughout Baltimore to bring music to new audiences and help students hone citizen artistry and career skills. She has shepherded the development of Peabody’s Breakthrough Curriculum and oversees the work of Peabody LAUNCHPad and the Office of Community Partnerships, advancing an integrated vision for career skill development, entrepreneurship and citizen artistry. 

Named one of Musical America’s 30 Music Professionals of 2019 for her work linking music and medicine at Johns Hopkins, Hoover leads a variety of interconnected efforts across the university and hospital system to conduct research, develop programs bringing music into clinical settings, and provide multi-disciplinary clinical care for musicians. She has shepherded the development of research studies, performance events, and lobby and bedside music programs at Johns Hopkins Hospital as well as programs in creative aging and sensory-friendly performances through Peabody Prescribe’s arts for wellness initiative, and has served as co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine. Her book, Music as Care: Artistry in the Hospital Environment, was published in 2021. In addition, she has shepherded the founding and expansion of the Peabody Clinic for Performing Artists, the development of injury prevention curriculum and co-curricular programs, and the start-up of a research lab in performance science. With partners at Johns Hopkins Medicine, she is laying the groundwork for a transdisciplinary convergence at the intersection of performing arts and health, focused on helping people thrive and live their best lives through creative endeavor in music and dance. 

Prior to her appointment at Peabody, Hoover had a career as a performer, teacher of singing, and music journalist. Her writing has been published by the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Grove Dictionary of American Music, and Chamber Music magazine. From 2012 to 2015, she founded and directed the Oyster Bay Music Festival in Oyster Bay, NY, a grassroots experiment in community music that deconstructed the concert stage and broke down the boundaries between audience and performers. Formerly Eastern Regional governor and New York City Chapter president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, she has given workshops on vocal health and technique for the Voice Foundation, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Royal School of Church Music, and Washington National Opera, among others. She also has received certifications in Body Mapping and Pilates matwork, and is a longtime student of yoga and Alexander Technique.

Hoover is a graduate of Yale University and earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from Peabody. She received additional training in voice science and holds certificates in Arts in Medicine and Performing Arts Medicine. 

Gaelen McCormick is the Program Manager of the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine (EPAM) program, a part of the University of Rochester. Before joining EPAM in 2018, she was a musician with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995-2017. Since losing her hearing in 2017, Gaelen has forged a new career path as a composer, arranger, and arts administrator. She is grateful that her abilities as a performing artist have shaped the way for her new career path. 

Teaching students of all ages has been a significant part of Gaelen’s life. She is the Instructor of Double Bass at the Eastman Community Music School, and teaches career skills at the collegiate level in the Arts Leadership Program at the Eastman School of Music. Her double bass bow pedagogy series, Mastering the Bow, and her first book of compositions, Double Trouble, are published by Carl Fischer. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Bassists, and is the editor of their Bass World magazine’s teaching column. 

Gaelen holds degrees in performance from the Eastman School where she studied with James VanDemark and Carnegie Mellon University where she studied with Jeffrey Turner. She is an alumna of the League of American Orchestra’s Essentials of Orchestral Management training program.

CAPT (ret) Moira G. McGuire is a nurse corps officer with the US Public Health Service (USPHS) who retired in 2022 after 30 years of uniformed service.  During her career, she held numerous positions working with vulnerable communities in behavioral health and oncology. She also served as Program Manager of the Warrior Clinic at the National Naval Medical Center, Chief of Integrative Health & Wellness at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and Chief of Arts in Health, a first-of-its-kind program she conceptualized and implemented, at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence. She is a founding member of the USPHS Music Ensemble, a founding member of the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military in partnership with Americans for the Arts, and the founder of Walter Reed’s annual art exhibit. She is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine and George Mason University’s Arts Management program, and she was recently named Co-Executive Director of the US Public Health Service’s Music Ensemble. The focus of her professional work lies in the belief that creativity and expression are not only essential elements in the treatment of illness and injury, but in the prevention of them as well.

Elysian McNiff Koglmeier is Head of Growth for Artwork Archive, an online art inventory management system for artists, collectors and organizations.

Growing up with a father as an art therapist and a mother who dedicated her career to art education, Elysian has always been passionate about the creative process and the importance of empowering artists and cultural institutions. She has pursued this passion both in the public and private sector. Elysian started her career in museums (Middlebury College Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), ran New England Foundation for the Arts’ public art program, served as curator for Brown University and RISD, and contributed to publications such as Art New England, Art Business News, and Public Art Review. A move out west brought her to Craftsy (now Bluprint) in Denver where she produced online art classes and managed partnerships for a startup that created online educational opportunities for enthusiastic makers.

Elysian received her BA in History from Middlebury College and her MA in Public Humanities from Brown University.

Most importantly, Elysian is the mother to a medically complex toddler so she and her family are passionate “consumers” of all the great work we do bringing arts into healthcare. Her son, Odin, has been surrounded by art since day one, and Elysian is on the Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Art Selection Committee – working towards bringing more creativity into the days of patients, family, providers and staff.

Brenda S. Ross is Community and Partner Engagement Director in the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music. In her role, she works in support of the three key areas of business: Undergraduate Education, Center for Music Therapy, and The Music and Health Institute. Brenda connects with key community and partner stakeholders who share the vision of music as a resource for positively impacting health and wellness outcomes. She works closely with partners on advocacy, education and program development. She brings to her role, training and work as a music therapist, as well as an advanced degree and career in strategy development in varied disciplines including marketing and CRM. Brenda has had a varied career path in both the non-profit and corporate sectors. Each of her professional experiences, while seemingly different, have informed and positively impacted the role that followed. She sees herself as a facilitator of conversation, a thought partner, a collaborator, and an implementer. Brenda challenges and continuously pushes herself and others towards creative ideation, innovation, and excellence. She volunteers her time serving on various boards and community committees. Brenda is interested in supporting those organizations that are committed to youth development, dismantling the “isms”, and the arts.

Purvi Shah, long-time Bay Area resident, identified a way to leverage training and a career in design and hard-won experience in dealing with pediatric cancer for a compassion project. As Executive Director of the Kids & Art Foundation, she helps other families confront the disease. The Foundation teams children touched by cancer with artists. Shah founded Kids & Art in 2008 after her son Amaey was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She sought a way to make a difference for her own child and thousands more like him. It also served to create some order in her overturned world. Amaey passed away after battling the disease for six of his nine years in 2011, fighting ALL twice and developing chemo-induced AML. Shah offers a lot to the community with her many talents as an entrepreneur, connector, artist, educator, and writer. She’s also a certified yoga teacher.

With deep roots in community activism and social justice, Lisa Simms Booth found herself unwittingly becoming a patient advocate when her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003. Navigating her mother’s complex cancer journey drove her to commit to improving this experience for other families going through a similar path. Lisa channeled this sense of purpose in the leadership roles she played at the Milken Institute’s FasterCures center and at the Biden Cancer Initiative which focused on improving the cancer journey. Today, Lisa continues to advocate for cancer patients and their families as the executive director for the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, the only independent, non-profit organization providing holistic, innovative health services in Washington, DC. Founded in 1996, Smith Center’s mission is to develop and promote healing practices that explore physical, emotional, and mental wellness and lead to life-affirming changes for those affected by cancer. Smith Center’s work is based on a single profound idea: that everyone harbors the innate ability to heal, even in the face of life’s most serious challenges.

Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Ariadne (air-ee-odd-knee) received her B.F.A. in Printmaking from the University of Washington and M.F.A. in Painting from the University of South Dakota. Ariadne is employed as an artist, arts educator, arts administrator and artist in residence. She is the Arts Program Coordinator at Sanford Vermillion Medical Center; an active roster artist with the South Dakota Arts Council’s (SDAC) Artists in the Schools and Communities Program since 2007; and teaches related courses at the University of South Dakota as they explore building an arts in health curriculum within their college of fine arts. Based on the quality of life outcomes of arts programming at Sanford Vermillion Medical Center, Ms. Albright presents extensively on best practices in the mid-west region including the 2014 MAYO Clinic Arts in Healthcare Symposium, MN; 2015 Pioneer Network Conference, IL and 2016 South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO). Her first book, Self-Service: An Artist in Healthcare funded in part by the SDAC is due this fall. Ari resides in Vermillion, South Dakota with her son Cyrus and their parrot named “Bird.”

Steven Boudreau is Chief Administrative Officer for the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). He is responsible for developing and branding the agency’s workforce, career, and leadership development program for a staff of approximately 500 public health champions. He is a member of the Department’s Executive Leadership Team and the Health Policy and Leadership Team. He is the Department’s Diversity Liaison, a member of the WaterFire Salute to Veterans Organizing Committee, the national One Mind Music and Brain Think Tank, a member of the Board of Directors for The Avenue Concept and a member of Leadership Rhode Island 2021. Steven is also convener and Co-chair of the Rhode Island State Arts and Health Network – a statewide coalition of individuals and organizations who are rethinking the connection between the arts, art-therapies, and health and well-being for the state. In 2016, Steven utilized his strengths to engage a cross-sector partnership with the RI State Council on the Arts and a network of 35 artists, arts-therapists, and clinicians to develop a first-of-its-kind State Arts and Health Plan. His speaking engagements, writings, and national involvement include participation in 2018 and 2020 National Organization for Arts in Health Leadership Summits and he participated in “Creating Healthy Communities: Arts + Public Health in America” – A national initiative led by the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine in partnership with ArtPlace America. Separately, Steven is a Strengths Champion and is thrilled by the potential he sees in each person and gains strength from learning how to help them unleash it.

Linh holds a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and minor in Studio Art from San Jose State University as well as a Masters Certificate in Arts in Medicine from University of Florida. In 2018, Linh is proud to join the nearly 700 certified patient experience professionals.

Linh enjoys rock climbing, yoga, and hiking. She currently lives in Manhattan, NY. In addition to overseeing the art collection and arts programs for 11 acute care hospitals, 5 nursing homes, and 70 clinics, she keeps herself busy creating and teaching art in her spare time.

Lisa Howley, PhD is an Educational Psychologist who has spent over 25 years in the field of medical education supporting learners and faculty, conducting research, and developing curricula. She joined the AAMC in 2016 to advance the continuum of medical education, support experiential learning, and curricular transformation across its member institutions and their clinical partners. In her role, she conceived and launched a national initiative, FRAHME, to advance the integration of the arts and the humanities into medical education. Prior to joining the AAMC, she spent eight years as the Associate DIO and AVP of Medical Education and Physician Development for Carolinas HealthCare System in North Carolina, one of the largest independent academic medical centers in the U.S. In that role, she led a number of medical education initiatives across the professional development continuum, including arts-based programs, graduate medical education accreditation, as well as physician leadership development for the large integrated healthcare system. She concurrently served as Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where she led curriculum and faculty development. She also held a faculty appointment in educational research at UNC-Charlotte where she taught social science research methods, led and collaborated on numerous studies of effective education. From 1996 to 2001, she was a member of the medical education faculty at the University of Virginia School of Medicine where she designed and led performance-based assessments and simulation-enhanced curricula. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida, and both her Master of Education and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Maegan Dubois, LMHC, ATR-BC is a licensed mental health counselor and board-certified art therapist creating the Healing Arts Program at Bradley Hospital in 2012, and has been practicing art therapy at Bradley for more than 10 years. She has extensive experience working with the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD) inpatient and partial programs, Children’s Partial Program, and the Pediatric Partial Program. Maegan holds a bachelor’s degree in art therapy from Emmanuel College, and went on to receive her master’s degree in art therapy and mental health counseling from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she received much of her training.  

Maegan has been working with PeaceLove for over 9 years as a community artist, advocate, and CREATOR.  Maegan has recently joined PeaceLove Studios as the Operations/Programs Manager. Maegan holds a passion for collaboration within community based organizations, and artists in healthcare to promote diverse modes of expression in correlation with high quality mental health care.

My name is Louis H. Hart III, MD and I am the inaugural Medical Director of Health Equity for Yale New Haven Health System. My leadership work addresses unjust structural and societal barriers that lead to inequitable health outcomes for the patients that we serve. By ingraining an equity lens into our clinical operations, we are leveraging and optimizing our existing data & analytics tools and clinical processes to advance various health equity related goals across the health system. Through transparent measurement, explicit acknowledgement, and data-informed intentionality, we strive to proactively eliminate health disparities that exist across social and racial lines. We view inequities and clinical bias as unwanted variations in care and therefore, must be rooted out. I am also proud to see patients clinically as a Pediatric Hospitalist, where I am responsible for teaching medical students and residents as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics as a faculty member of the Yale School of Medicine. I received my bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and my Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, San Diego. I then completed my residency training in Pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine / NYC Health + Hospitals – Bellevue.

Katherine Trapanovski is the Director of Events and Outreach at the Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo and Program Director of the Center’s Arts in Healthcare Initiative. She has been an active member of the Center’s staff since 1994 creating and managing many special programs including Explore the Arts, a theatrical arts program for youth; Music is Art LIVE at the Center, a television show focusing on local musical and artistic talent and the Arts in Healthcare Summer Intensive, a program designed to educate individuals about the Arts in Healthcare field. Katherine was integral in the creation of the Center’s Arts in Healthcare Initiative in 2008, and has served as Program Director since its inception. As Program Director Katherine successfully established the Arts in Healthcare Initiative at two partner hospitals; managing various elements of the program including artists in residence, funding, education and touring artist residencies. Katherine has focused her management career on the administration of arts organizations having served as the Marketing Director for the Greater Buffalo Opera Company before joining the University. She has also worked as a consultant for the Gus Giordano Dance School in Chicago. Katherine has represented Center staff on the organization’s advisory board and was elected senator to the university’s Professional Staff Senate. Katherine is a graduate of the University at Buffalo’s School of Management with a Masters of Business Administration in International Management and Marketing.

Joshua grew up with a passion for music ministry and service. He served on several large church teams as music and worship director over vocal praise teams, orchestras, youth choirs, drama and pageants. He helped director the Palm Beach Singing Christmas Trees which was televised to thousands in South Florida.

During his tenure in these churches, he founded and served as the Executive Producer of the Central Florida Christmas Celebration, in which he coached youth and adult vocal performers, developed shows and scripts, and managed hundreds of volunteers.

Joshua is the founder of Central Florida Community Arts, an organization in which he was the executive director for 11 years. This organization consists of thousands of artists in multiple choirs, an adult and youth symphony orchestra, children/youth arts program, theatre, School of Performing Arts and programs for seniors, vulnerable communities and arts and wellness. CFCArts strives to make the arts affordable and accessible, and uses the arts as a catalyst to create change in the community in a variety of ways.

Joshua is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Encore Creativity, the nation’s largest and fastest growing choral and arts organization for older adults. He leads the company and is focused on strategic partnerships, fundraising, strategic planning and the national expansion. He is working to leverage Encore to be the nation’s thought leader on creative aging.

Joshua has been a featured soloist in countless venues, produced musical recordings, and been a director of numerous productions. Joshua has been an entertainment leader, casting director, and vocal coach for Walt Disney Entertainment.

He also serves as a consultant for other arts organizations in its beginning stages and a voice for local, state and national arts advocacy.

Joshua currently resides in Pasadena, MD and has enjoyed serving on the board of several fine entities including: Zebra Coalition, Orange County Arts and Cultural Advisory, UCF Non-Profit Advisory Board, Florida Alliance for Arts Education, National Alliance for Music with Vulnerable Communities, Tourist Development Tax Grant Review, and Chorus America Leadership Forum. He has the honor of several accolades including Arts Educational Professional of the Year (FAAE), Orlando 50 Most Powerful People 2017-19 (Orlando Magazine), Top 3 Community Leader (Orlando Weekly), Top Arts Advocate (Orlando Weekly), 10 People who Make Central Florida A Better Place (Orlando Sentinel), and 40 under 40 (Orlando Business Journal).

Kim joined Hennepin Healthcare in 2015 from ActiveHealth Management (part of Aetna) where she was the SVP of Product Marketing and Strategy. Prior to that, Kim led national and international care and population health support initiatives for Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Kim began her post-MBA career at General Mills as a product manager. She worked for Publicis, a multinational advertising agency, where she led global brand presence initiatives and a start-up company before moving into the health care industry.

Kim earned her masters of business administration from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Northern Iowa.

Kim is passionate about the arts and healing program initiatives. She serves on the Arts Council at Hennepin Healthcare to help raised awareness and funds for arts programming. Kim has also supported Arts and Healing at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

She is an avocational mosaic artist, a twin and one of 13 children.

Tasha Golden, PhD is Director of Research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and a national leader and consultant in arts + public health. Holding a PhD in Public Health Sciences, Dr. Golden has published extensively on the impacts of the arts, music, aesthetics, and social norms on health and well-being. She has served as an advisor on several national and international health initiatives, is adjunct faculty for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, and recently led the pilot evaluation of CultureRx in Massachusetts: the first arts-on-prescription model in the U.S.

Golden is also a career artist and entrepreneur. As singer-songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Ellery, she toured full-time in the US and abroad, and her songs appear in feature films and TV dramas (ABC, SHOWTIME, FOX, NETFLIX, etc). She is a published poet (Humanist Press) and founder of Project Uncaged: an arts-based health intervention for incarcerated teen women that amplifies their voices in justice reform.

Golden’s diverse background drives her success as an international speaker and thought leader. She gives talks and facilitates workshops for artists, businesses, researchers, practitioners, and more—helping them enhance and reimagine their work.

George Tingwald uses his combination of qualifications as both an architect and physician in his role as Administrative Director of Medical Planning for Stanford Healthcare in Palo Alto, California. The recently opened New Stanford Hospital is the culmination of 15 years of planning, design and construction for Project Renewal for the medical campus. He has served of the Facilities Guidelines Institute for over 25 years and is a founding member of the American College of Healthcare Architects. An accomplished public speaker, Dr. Tingwald is the 2020 recipient of the Changemaker award from the Center for Health Design.

Miriam Zimms: “After a very successful 22-year career as an innovative national environmental business management and marketing consultant serving on various Boards, I came to art twelve years ago through the Arts in Medicine (AIM) studio at Moffitt Cancer Center. After a body battle with two separate cancers, two years of physical therapy to walk again with adaptive equipment, and using the AIM studio to establish a daily healing-arts practice, my body and life purpose shifted. As an emerging and “outsider” artist who did not come through the traditional route, my arts practice helps me focus away from pain, anxiety/PTSD, and other issues I never experienced before. I am an emerging Guatemalan-American artist showcasing body loss (that is often left unspoken) in an abstract way and botanicals using repetitive patterns and colors throughout FL galleries, including the State Capitol. I am also a teaching artist in the community for the wellness arts as a Certified Zentangle Teacher (meditative arts) and Level I and Level II Expressive Arts Facilitator (therapeutic arts) where no prior art experience is necessary, just exploration and openness to experience and receive the power of the healing arts. For twelve years, I have advocated and supported it in the community via “Ted-Talk like” presentations, on TV, radio, print and social media throughout FL and the U.S.  My advocacy is part of everything I do, whether it’s taping a show on Arts In Medicine for PBS; being interviewed for a national article on the healing arts; depicting loss and healing in gallery shows; or teaching for the Children’s Cancer Center, Faces of Courage Cancer Camps, or the Franciscan Retreat Center. I always share my story that “the healing arts chose me” for a mutually beneficial human connection, inclusivity, and overall well-being experience for all. To learn more about me, visit  https://encasawithm.com/