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2025 IAMM Elections
Nominee for President
Dr. Andrew Rossetti
Andrew is an internationally-minded scholar who has a strong commitment to helping grow the fields of music & medicine and music therapy in both developing and cutting edge contexts. Through lectures, conferences and consultation he has helped implement programs in numerous countries in Europe, Asia, South America, the US, and Africa. He has served as executive secretary of the IAMM for the past term -which required him to take minutes that were approved by Dr. Suzanne Hanser and disseminated prior to each monthly meeting. In so doing he was involved in each and every detail of the association for the past 5 years. He has been extensively involved in decision making protocols dedicated to maintaining tradition while igniting broad change and leadership. Andrew is committed to providing a platform for new voices as well as safeguarding the work upon whose shoulders we build. It is with this idea that he initiated and co-chaired the first titled IAMM ethics committee. Prior to his service as an officer of IAMM, he has been a member since its start over a decade ago.
He has attended every IAMM conference, at which he has presented alone, with or for doctors, and those involved in healthcare, with the overreaching goal of fomenting the juncture of the medical community with music. Dr. Rossetti is devoted to the mission of IAMM which involves integrating medical care with music care for those in need, especially in remote places that do not have music therapy. In his drive for inclusivity, has started programs in NICU and Oncology, developing Environmental Music Therapy programs of high efficacy. Andrew has held clinical practice in Spain and speaks fluent Spanish and Catalan. He has supervised startup programs in Puerto Rico in the Conservatorio de Puerto Rico as well as in the island’s medical centers. Dr. Rossetti’s commitment to bettering research is impressive. He is a widely published researcher currently working with the NIH ENSEMBLE pain group and has developed protocols in Cancer and Trauma. He is the Director of music therapy cancer programs at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine in the Mount Sinai Health system in New York City. He has trained music therapists, interns, medical students and others in music psychotherapy. Dr. Andrew Rossetti is a creative and dedicated music therapist who has served clients and colleagues. He is also a professional musician whose guitar skills remain fluid in classical and jazz idioms.
Nominee for Vice-President
Dr. Mark Ettenberger
Mark is an Ethno-Music therapist trained in Austria and obtained his PhD in Music Therapy from Anglia Ruskin University, UK. He specialized in neonatal music therapy (RBL - Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby) at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine in New York and holds a M.A. in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace, University Jaume I, Spain. He currently lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia, where he is the director of SONO – Centro de Musicoterapia (www.sono.la) and a university lecturer at various music therapy programs internationally. He coordinates the music therapy services at several hospitals in Colombia and has a specific interest in researching music-based interventions and therapies in medical settings.
Nominee for Treasurer
Jennifer Townsend
Jennifer Townsend, MMT, MT-BC, is the System Manager for Creative Arts Therapies at Houston Methodist Hospital and holds the Susie and Tommy Smith Endowed Chair for Music and Creative Arts Therapies. With over two decades of leadership in clinical, academic, and research settings, she brings deep experience in strategic planning, budgeting, and grant stewardship. Jennifer has served on multiple boards and held regional and national roles within AMTA and community arts organizations. As Treasurer, she offers financial acumen, transparency, and a visionary approach to supporting the global advancement of music and medicine.
Nominee for Secretary
Dr. Antonio Diroma
Dr. Antonio Diroma is a 40-year-old Medical Doctor specializing in Radiation Oncology and Palliative Care, currently serving as Chief of Research and Clinical Innovation. A graduate with top honors from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy, he is also a Master's candidate in Music Education and a skilled pianist. Dr. Diroma's research focuses on physical and music mediation in end-of-life communication, which he has presented at international conferences. He collaborates with the Italian National Institute of Health and teaches in university programs, contributing to artistic research in palliative care. Passionate about the mission of IAMM, particularly in music's role in palliative care, he is pursuing a doctoral degree to further his academic and professional aspirations.
Nominees Board of Directors:
Dr. Camila Siqueira Gouvêa Acosta Gonçalves
Camila is a registered music therapist based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with almost two decades of clinical practice. She holds a doctorate in Health Technologies – HT Assessment, a master’s in Creative Arts Therapies – Music Therapy, and Music Therapy and Pedagogy bachelor degrees. Camila currently works as a music therapist at the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro, with clinical practice, supervision, lecturing and research. She served in regional, national and international MT boards: as president of State Music Therapy Association of Paraná, as vice-president of UBAM, and as regional liaison of Latin America and the Caribbean in WFMT.
Penny Brill
Retired Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra violist Penny Brill is the founder of MUSACOR, Musicians as a Community Resource, and was a co-founder of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Music and Wellness program. For more than twenty five years she has worked in collaboration with music therapists in a variety of hospital and community settings.
Penny is a member of the Sound Health Network Music in Medicine reimbursement and sustainable funding affinity group.
Dr. Melissa Mercadal-Brotons
As a music therapist with over 35 years of experience integrating clinical practice, research, and teaching, I am deeply committed to advancing music therapy globally. My leadership within international organizations reflects a long-standing dedication to enhancing the recognition and development of music therapy worldwide, including serving as President of the World Federation of Music Therapy (2017–2020). Since 2019, I have led the Special Interest Group on Music Therapy and Dementia within IAMM. I bring a collaborative spirit, strategic vision, and a passion for fostering interdisciplinary dialogue to support IAMM’s mission at the intersection of music, health, and medicine.
Arnab Chowdhury
Arnab is an explorer of Consciousness, composer, therapist, educator and founder of Know Your Rhythm, training program (https://www.ninad.in), blending Music and Yoga as medicine. He has trained over 25,000 care givers, globally.
A 3rd generation Indian classical musician from the lineage of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, his therapeutic music and research have reached Vienna and Moscow conservatories, Indian Ministries of Health, Education, Culture and Science & Technology, MIT Media Lab, IAMM.
He serves as Senior Researcher and composer at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry, India.
Currently he represents Asia and India in project ‘Tone of Mind’, World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA): https://bjgplife.com/the-music-and-mental-health-project-uniting-primary-health-care-globally-through-music/
Dr. Lisa Gallagher
I am a licensed, board certified music therapist in the U.S. If elected, I bring over 30 years in healthcare to this role. At Cleveland Clinic I started the music therapy program and later became the research program manager for Arts & Medicine. In addition to being a clinician and researcher, I am also an educator, author, and presenter. I have served on multiple boards, many related to music and medicine, and many related to other areas of importance to me. Therefore, I would bring experience, knowledge, passion, and love for music and medicine to this board if elected.
Dr. Jordi A. Jauset
It will be exciting to be part as member of the Board of Directors of IAMM, a prestigious organization which I've been associated since 2012. Over the past 18 years, I've dedicated my professional career to studying and disseminating, through my publications and conferences, the benefits of music for health and education. My background in engineering, neuroscience, and music, along with my experience and constant study, is what I can truly offer to contribute to the organization so it can continue developing its fantastic work of promoting music as a valuable tool for our health.
Dr. Ming Ming Liu
Dr. Ming-Ming Liu is Associate Professor of the Music Therapy Center, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China. She is registered clinical supervisor of Chinese Psychological Society, and on the Editorial Board of Creative Arts in Education and Therapy, the first journal of arts therapy in China. She devotes herself to music therapy education and helping establish music therapy in general hospitals.
Dr. Wendy Magee
Dr. Wendy Magee is Professor of Music Therapy at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. I have an extensive background of 37 years in neurological rehabilitation as a music therapy clinician, researcher, manager and trainer in Australia, England, and Ireland before I moved to the USA in 2011. My clinical and research publications focus on music therapy for children and adults with acquired brain injury and neurological illness. I was honoured with the World Federation of Music Therapy Research Award in 2023 for my global research on music interventions with Disorders of Consciousness. Current research collaborations span Europe, Latin America, America and Asia.
Nsamu Moonga
As a dedicated advocate for the intersection of music and medicine, I bring a wealth of experience in research, clinical application, and educational outreach. My work examines the therapeutic benefits of music in various healthcare settings, promoting collaboration among medical professionals, researchers, and musicians. Rooted in Indigenous research and deeply influenced by African musical arts, I embrace an Ubuntu-centred approach—emphasising complexity, radical relationality, and integral musicality. These perspectives shape my contributions to psycho-oncology, where my ongoing research bridges cultural wisdom with innovative applications in patient care. As a Board Member, I will support IAMM's mission with strategic insight, leadership, and a commitment to advancing music's role in healing and well-being.
Napak Pakdeesatitwara
Napak Pakdeesatitwara (Na), RMT is a vice-president of international relations at the Thai Association of Music Therapy. He co-founded and taught a master’s degree in music therapy at Chulalongkorn University. Napak is completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne. His research investigates how music therapists, healthcare practitioners, and people with chronic illnesses foster sustainable uses of music as a health resource. Napak is a CMTP member, a global network of PhD students of the Consortium of Music Therapy Research. He will bring diverse local and global connections to IAMM. He enjoys organizing workshops and welcoming international experts to Thailand.
Camila Pfeiffer
Camila Pfeiffer (MA, Ph.D.(c)) serves as head of the Master of Music Therapy program at ArtEZ University of the Arts (NL) while simultaneously working as a clinician and researcher at Sienes Neurorehabilitation Center in Buenos Aires. With more than two decades of experience in neurorehabilitation, she specializes in using music therapy to assess and treat cognitive impairments and promote emotional wellbeing in adults with neurological disorders and their caregivers. Her research interests include music-based interventions for stroke rehabilitation, cognitive assessment through musical interaction, and supporting caregiver wellbeing through therapeutic approaches. In addition to her academic leadership and clinical work, she contributes to cross cultural collaborations in music therapy education and research.
Alison Rigby
As both a neurobiology researcher and board-certified music therapist, I am passionate about bridging the neuroscience and music medicine fields. Informed by my music therapy work at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, music cognitive neuroscience research in Rome, and human developmental neuroscience research at UC San Diego, I understand the crucial need for collaborative dialogue between clinical and research communities. It has been an honor to serve on the IAMM Board since 2016, and it would be a privilege to continue advancing the organization's global mission of integrating music into healthcare. Our present crossroads in the future of medical research is an opportunity to clarify and embrace who we are, and I will bring a commitment to three core missions: 1) fostering meaningful and sustained connections across the music neuroscience and music medicine communities, 2) advancing rigorous research into the neurobiological mechanisms of music-based interventions, and 3) prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, supporting initiatives to ensure IAMM reflects and serves our dynamic and diverse global community.
Dr. Patsy Tan
Patsy is an American board-certified and Australian registered music therapist with 30 years’ experience in healthcare and educational settings in the United States, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. She pioneered medical music therapy in Singapore’s largest teaching hospital and established the first music therapy program specially designed for children with cochlear implant in SE Asia. She was involved in clinical research as well as supervising music therapy interns. Prior to her relocation to Singapore, she was working in the United States as a Music Therapist in both acute and long-term care medical settings. Patsy is currently a full-time music therapist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she started the program in 2018. As a founding member of the IAMM, Patsy could share her experience in acute medical settings from working in different hemispheres and continents as well as multicultural music therapy skills and techniques.
Dr. Sumathy Sundar
Dr. Sumathy Sundar, Director of Chennai School of Music Therapy is a founding member of IAMM. She was the former professor and director of Center for Music Therapy Education and Research of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, a health sciences university in Pondicherry, India. Her vision is to introduce the Salutogenic approach to health promotion through music and music therapy with evidence-informed protocol in hospitals to the global stage.
Dr. Helen Shoemark
I began in music therapy more than 40 years ago when music in health was a curiosity for people. I am currently the Director of Music Therapy at Temple University, Philadelphia. My experience as an Australian living in the US, has taught me a great deal about the implicit aspects of culture when creating therapeutic processes in music. As we explore the unique potential of music for people in critical moments of their life trajectory, I will support the discourse about music as a stimulus, an attribute of culture, an amplification of identity and an acknowledgement of self-identified potential.
Dr. Claudia Zanini
Music Therapist (AGMT - 0003). PhD in Health Sciences, Master in Music, Specialist in Music Therapy (Special Education and Mental Health) and Bachelor in Piano from UFG - Federal University of Goiás. Postdoctoral studies in the Music Therapy Program at Temple University. Specialist in Gerontology titled by SBGG (Brazilian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology). Postgraduate degree in Music Therapy in Critical Areas (SATI - Argentina). First Music Therapy teacher in the Music Therapy Course at UFG (1999). President of the Gerontology Department of SBGG-GO (Goiás Section of the Brazilian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology). Member of the National Council for the Rights of the Elderly (representative of SBGG). Member of the Education and Certification Commission of WFMT - World Federation of Music Therapy (Since 2020). Member of the Editorial Committee of the Brazilian Journal of Music Therapy. Member of the Research Committee of UBAM - Brazilian Union of Music Therapy Associations. Reviewer of Brazilian and international scientific journals and conferences.
Marcela Lichtensztejn
Marcela Lichtensztejn is the Founding Director of the Music Therapy Training Program of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales (UCES), in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Board-certified music therapist, pianist, music educator, researcher, supervisor and lecturer, currently pursuing her doctorate in Disability Studies. Committed to knowledge development, Marcela is involved as co-investigator in an international research study on music and premature infant-parent relationship and is co-leading an international multisite randomized control trial of her authorship on music and memory in adults with Alzheimer’s disease. She has published on music in neurodevelopment, brain injury, dementias, and differential diagnosis for disorders of consciousness. Member of the editorial board of the Music and Medicine Journal (IAMM) and the Revista Brasileira de Musicoterapia (UBAM).
Music & Medicine Editorial Board Transition Plan:
Starting in 2026, the Editorial Team is planning to expand and re-assemble.
Dr Amy Clements-Cortes will be shifting her role as Managing Editor and be promoted to become co-Editor in Chief alongside Dr Ralph Spintge. Dr Joanne Loewy will step down as Editor-in-Chief, but remain on the larger Editorial Board. In 2026, Music and Medicine will expand to include two new Associate Editors: Dr. Mark Ettenberger and Dr. Marija Pranjic.
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