THE INSTITUTE FOR
MUSIC & BRAIN SCIENCE
 
The Executive Board of The Institute for Music & Brain Science
Mark Jude Tramo, M.D., Ph.D., Director.
Dr. Tramo is Director of The Institute for Music & Brain Science, a founding member of its Executive Board, Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Attending Neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. An awardee of the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, McDonnell-Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, National Organization for Hearing Research, and other foundations, Dr. Tramo has conducted original research on the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of music perception and cognition for over 20 years. He did his doctoral dissertation, Neural Representations of Acoustic Information in Relation to Music & Voice Perception, at Harvard with David Hubel and Marge Livingstone, trained in Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Cornell with Fred Plum and Michael Gazzaniga, and studied musical theater with Lehman Engel and John Hood at the Yale Schools of Drama and Music. His work has been published in Science, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsychologia, Contemporary Music Review, and other professional journals. Dr. Tramo serves on the Steering Committee of the Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative and holds research appointments at the M.I.T. Research Laboratory of Electronics and Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary. Winner of the Harvard Provost's Award for Educational Innovation, Dr. Tramo founded the world's first Music and the Brain course at Harvard College in 1997 and co-founded the Auditory Neurobiology course at Harvard College and Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Science. A Diplomate in Neurology of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Dr. Tramo's work in patient care has been recognized by Best Doctors in America and America's Top Physicians. A published songwriter member of ASCAP, Mark is currently touring science museums throughout the U.S. as part of the Wild Music! exhibit.
 
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Nicholas T. Zervas, M.D.
Dr. Zervas, a founding member of The Institute for Music & Brain Science Executive Board, is Higgins Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, former Chief of the Neurosurgery Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, and President ex officio of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A recipient of numerous National Institutes of Health research awards, he has published over two hundred manuscripts in professional journals, including work on stroke, neuroendocrinology, brain tumors, and neurotransmitters. Dr. Zervas has served on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery Update Series, and Journal of Applied Neurophysiology. He is a member of the National Panel for Research in Neurological Disorders in the Decade of the Brain and has served as President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, Director and Chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and President of the International Congress of Hellenic Neuroscientists. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. A former concert pianist, he is President of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a former Trustee of the New England Conservatory of Music. Dr. Zervas sees patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital Neuroendocrine Center and Neurosurgery Department.
Verne S. Caviness, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Caviness is Joseph & Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Child Neurology & Mental Retardation at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Child Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He directs the Center for Morphometric Analysis and the Kennedy Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology at MGH. His research interests include the development and organization of cortical structures of the mammalian nervous system. He has given invited lectures around the world, and his honors include the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and MGH Teacher of the Year awards in neurology and child neurology. Dr. Caviness is a member of the Steering Committee for the Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative at Harvard University and serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Tokyo. He has published over two hundred papers in professional journals and currently serves on the board of editors for Developmental Brain Research, Brain and Development, Pediatric Neurology, and Cerebral Cortex. Dr. Caviness sees patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Neurology Unit.
The Advisory Board of The Institute for Music & Brain Science
Sir George Martin, C.B.E.
Sir George Martin is Co-Founder and Chairman of Associated Independent Recording Studios and a recipient of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Trustee Award. A self-taught childhood pianist, he went on to graduate from London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His career in music as a producer, composer, conductor, and performer has produced over seven hundred recordings in rock, classical, jazz, theatre, film, and comedy, among them thirty number one hits and all but one of The Beatles’ albums, including A Hard Day’s Night, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the Berklee College of Music. A four-time Grammy Award winner and member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sir George was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996.
David H. Hubel, M.D.
Dr. Hubel is a Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, John Franklin Enders University Professor at Harvard, and a Founding Member of the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. After training in Neurology at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Dr. Hubel began a research career that has produced over a hundred manuscripts in professional journals, including work on cortical mechanisms of auditory attention and subcortical mechanisms of auditory-visual-tactile integration. Among his many awards are the Helen Keller Prize, the American Philosophical Society's Lashley Prize, and seven honorary doctorates. A former President of the Society for Neuroscience, Dr. Hubel is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A lifelong pianist and flutist, Dr. Hubel's autobiography is published in The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography, where he wrote, "To [my music teacher], I owe a love of Bach that I would not trade for any amount of success in science."
Robert Freeman, Ph.D.
Dr. Freeman is Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas, Austin, former Director of the Eastman School of Music, and former President of the New England Conservatory of Music. A concert pianist and recording artist who has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops and the National Gallery Orchestra of Washington, he holds a doctorate in Musicology and taught at Princeton and M.I.T. During his subsequent tenure at the Eastman School, Dr. Freeman spent five years as Chair of the National Advisory Board for the Center for Black Music Research and served in the leadership of the American Musicological Society and the National Association of Schools of Music. An innovator in music education, Dr. Freeman has brought together musicians, scientists, and physicians to develop multidisciplinary approaches to understanding the biology of music, the role of music education in brain development, and the care of musicians with diseases that affect cognitive, perceptual, and motor functions.
Bernie Krause, Ph.D.
Dr. Krause is President and Director of Wild Sanctuary, Inc. His distinguished career in bioacoustic research, soundscape design, and music production has included field work on vocal communication in silverback gorillas and chimpanzees at the sites of Dian Fossey in Rwanda and Jane Goodall in Tanzania; the Scientific Directorship of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration project that rescued a humpback whale using recorded whale vocalizations; the design and production of natural sound exhibits at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and many other museums; and the introduction of sound synthesis into pop music and film, with contributions to recordings by George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Barbara Streisand, and many others, and to numerous movie soundtracks, including The Graduate, Camelot, Dr. Doolittle, and Apocalypse Now. A consultant to the U.S. National Park Service, Dr. Krause has been influential in the official designation of biophony as a natural resource. His books include Into A Wild Sanctuary: A Life in Music and Natural Sound , Notes from the Wild and Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World. Among his forty-six original recordings are The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music, Nature's Lullabies, and Rhythms of Africa.
Jack M. Gill, Ph.D
Jack M. Gill is a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, a senior advisor to the Harvard-MIT CIMIT program, and is currently teaching at HMS and MIT. He also serves on the boards of MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Project Hope, and the Presidents’ Circle of the National Academies. Dr. Gill also serves on the adjunct faculty of Indiana University and Rice University and is a consulting professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Gill is a founder of Vanguard Ventures and Autolab. Prior to co founding Vanguard in October 1981, Dr. Gill was Executive Vice President and Group Manager of the Scientific Divisions of Spectra Physics, Inc. Dr. Gill authored 50 technical papers and lectured worldwide on gas chromatography, HPLC, laboratory computerization, and advances in instrumentation. Jack was named a 1999 winner of the Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans. Currently Jack is a director of Percardia, (novel cardiovascular devices), Luminous Networks (telecommunications), Kodiak Technologies (cold chain shipping), TissueLink Medical (surgical devices), and Polychromix (optical mems).
Suzanne Hanser, Ed.D, M.T.-B.C.
Dr. Hanser chairs the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music and has served as lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is Secretary and Treasurer of the World Federation of Music Therapy and Past President of the National Association for Music Therapy. Dr. Hanser received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging and was a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. She has served as Program Director of the Alzheimer's Association, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, and Chair of the Music Therapy Department at University of the Pacific. Dr. Hanser is the author of The New Music Therapist's Handbook and serves on the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Music Therapy. She has published numerous book chapters and journal articles in a range of areas including nursing, gerontology, pediatric oncology, psychotherapy, and music therapy. She has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the World Congress for Music Therapy and has presented at many international conferences.
Michael S. Gazzaniga, Ph.D.
After completing his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College, Michael Gazzaniga earned a Ph.D. in psychobiology at the California Institute of Technology, where he was also a post-graduate fellow for two years. He was awarded a National Institute of Health Fellowship at the Institute of Physiology in Pisa, Italy. Dr. Gazzaniga is currently the David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College and Director of the Program in Cognitive Neuroscience. He is also Special Assistant to the Provost for Science Development at Dartmouth. His teaching and research career has included appointments at the University of California at Davis, Dartmouth Medical School, Cornell University Medical College, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York University Graduate School, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Gazzaniga is President of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute and in 1993 founded the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. He is married and has five daughters and a son.
Susan J. Pasquale, Ph.D., M.T.-B.C.
Dr. Pasquale is Director of Curriculum and Faculty Development and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. A Board-Certified Music Therapist and former Associate Professor of Music, she directed The Music Therapy Program at Anna Maria College for fifteen years. Dr. Pasquale has extensive experience with patients suffering from traumatic brain injury, developmental brain disorders, chronic pain, substance abuse, and other neurological and psychiatric diseases. She has served as Treasurer and Executive Board member of the New England Chapter of the Association for Music Therapy and as the New England representative to the AMT's Education Committee and Student Affairs Advisory Board. Dr. Pasquale is a member of the Certification Board for Music Therapists, the American Music Therapy Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the American Educational Research Association.
Click here for a list of selected publications authored by Institute Board members