"Neuroscience of Music" with Elaine Bearer, MD/PhD ’83

Music moves the heart, taps into emotions, and plays at the edges between conscious and unconscious thought. It can make you weep, make your hair stand on end, provoke you to feel like dancing or engage in transcendental meditation. Just as your muscles respond to gravity, so also does your body sense and respond to natural sounds from the world around you. But what are the neural correlates of these emotional responses? With an introduction from Bruce Alberts, PhD, professor emeritus, join Elaine Bearer, MD/PhD ’83 and a panel of musicians as we explore the latest neuroscience of emotion and our current understanding of how musical experience fits into that construct. Examples will be taken from Dr. Bearer's and other researchers’ scientific discoveries as well the philosophy of emotion and the poetry of Native American healing rights. Dr. Bearer also will lead attendees in a group performance of the B-flat, an audience participation aleatoric piece, accompanied by percussionist Jonathan Goldstein. Get ready to experience "the sound of the universe!" About the panelists: Elaine Bearer, MD/PhD ’83, FAAAS, FCAP Dr. Bearer is the Harvey Family Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Her interest in the brain, the mind, and their disorders propelled her into biomedical sciences. She uses many different imaging technologies, coupled with molecular genetics and computational modeling, to study circuitry dynamics in health and disease states. Dr. Bearer also attended The Manhattan School of Music and New York University where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, respectively. Additionally, she studied under the renowned composer, Nadia Boulanger, in Paris. A composer, her pieces have been performed around the world, including in Paris, Geneva, New York, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Find her YouTube channel here:    / @ebearer   Fred Chang, MD/PhD ’92, Violinist Dr. Chang, a classical violinist, is a professor in the UCSF Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, where his lab investigates fundamental mechanisms of cell growth and division. He is an alumnus of the Medical Scientist Training Program program at UCSF. While a student at UCSF, he served as the concertmaster of the UCSF Orchestra (now known as Symphony Parnassus). He has performed in numerous groups in London, New York, and the Bay Area and also is a member of the Berkeley Symphony. Jonathan Davis, PhD ’96 Dr. Davis is vice president of innovation and strategy at Invera. He has worked as a principal scientist and has more than 18 years of experience in industry, focused on protein and antibody engineering, bispecific and multispecific antibody platform development, and drug discovery in a wide range of therapeutic areas. While a student at UCSF, Dr. Davis also served as cellist and music director of the UCSF Orchestra (now known as Symphony Parnassus: https://www.symphonyparnassus.org/his.... Jonathan Goldstein, Percussionist Mr. Goldstein studied music at Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2007, then earned a master’s degree in timpani performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music two years later. He has performed as principal timpanist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival. He has also performed timpani or percussion with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony. Moreover, Mr. Goldstein performed a piece composed by Dr. Bearer for Dr. Bruce Alberts' 70th birthday at Genentech Hall on UCSF's Mission Bay campus in 2007. He currently works as engagement manager at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. David Harrington, Violinist David is the founder and lead violinist of San Francisco’s Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet. For more than 45 years, Kronos Quartet and its nonprofit Kronos Performing Arts Association have reimagined and redefined the string quartet experience through thousands of concerts, more than 60 recordings, collaborations with composers and performers from around the world, more than 1,000 commissioned works, and education programs for emerging musicians. Learn more about the Kronos Quartet at https://kronosquartet.org/