RiverCenter presents a special medical panel discussion, Renée Fleming’s Music and Mind on Friday, April 5 at 5:30 PM. Ms. Fleming will be joined by three nationally recognized medical experts, Jonathan L. Liss, M.D., Monica Parker, M.D., and Tonya Jackson, MA, MT-BC.

A compelling and growing body of research has demonstrated the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience. Music and arts therapies are effective tools for addressing a widening array of conditions – including using visual art therapy to treat chronic pain and PTSD for veterans and servicemembers, melodic intonation to recover speech after stroke or traumatic brain injury, rhythm and dance to improve mobility for individuals with Parkinson’s disease, and music therapy to improve memory and quality of life for individuals with dementia.

In Music and Mind, presented in more than fifty cities around the world, soprano and arts & health advocate Renée Fleming invites leading local scientists, physicians, and practitioners to join her, offering illuminating discussions and sharing the latest findings about the growing field of arts and health. Fleming will also share highlights from her new anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, to be published by Viking Penguin on April 9, 2024. 

Renée Fleming, recently named a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health, is a leading advocate for the study of the powerful connections between the arts and health. As Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Renée has spearheaded the Sound Health collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and she partners with other leading organizations and initiatives to bring attention to research and practice at the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience. Renée is Co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins/Aspen Institute NeuroArts Blueprint and Founding Advisor for the Sound Health Network at UCSF, and her foundation has supported research projects including the NIH Music-Based Intervention Toolkit and the Renée Fleming NeuroArts Investigator Awards. Renée’s advocacy work has earned her Research! America’s Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion and the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. Her new anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, will be published by Viking Penguin on April 9, 2024. In conjunction with Music and Mind, Ms. Fleming will also appear in concert at RiverCenter on Saturday, April 6 at 7:30 PM.

Dr. Liss is a national lecturer, research scientist, author, educator, and clinical practitioner. He sits on international advisory boards directing memory research and is a Principal Investigator for numerous FDA approved Alzheimer’s disease research trials in Columbus, GA. As director of Columbus Memory Center, he has brought worldwide attention to Columbus, Georgia, as his center is frequently in the top echelon of clinical trial enrollment designed to defeat Alzheimer’s disease.  He founded the Columbus Memory Project, which is a first-in-the-world effort to screen every area senior for cognitive disorders for free. He has also invented the first ever vital sign for the brain, known as the Memory Number®. His medical research includes publications in The New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology, and the Annals of Surgery. He has also authored self-help booklets that include: Living Well: A Guide For Preserving Independence with Senior Moments and Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease and Thirty Minutes to a Better Life:  Alzheimer’s Disease.

Dr. Liss has received numerous honors including “Teacher-of-the-Year” from Columbus Regional Family Practice Residency Program, “Excellence in Medical Education” from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and served as Chief Resident in Neurology at the University of California at San Diego. He has served on the Board of Advisors, Morehouse School of Medicine and has been nationally recognized for serving disadvantaged communities.

Dr. Liss earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He completed a transitional Internship at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in San Diego, California, and a Residency in Neurology at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center. He is Board Certified in Neurology and Sleep Medicine. 

Monica W. Parker, M.D.

Dr. Parker is a graduate of Fisk University and The University of Nebraska Medical Center. She completed a Family Medicine residency at the University of Mississippi. She joined Emory School of Medicine in 1995 as medical director of the Emory Clinic of Social Circle. She subsequently worked as an attending physician at Wesley Woods Geriatric Center of Emory University. She has transitioned roles as a geriatric, primary care provider to that of clinical research investigator.

Dr. Parker is Director of Minority Engagement (MEC) the Outreach Recruitment and Education (ORE) Cores for the Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Emory University. In 2022, she was appointed to the National ORE Core Steering Committee for the 37 NIH-NIA funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers.

A Co-Investigator for several National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded projects, she has co-authored articles for peer reviewed journals in Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, aging, and health disparities. She has provided national service on the inaugural FDA Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) and currently serves on the Commission on Continuing Professional Development (COCPD) for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

A recipient of many honors, she was given the “Yellow Rose Award” by the Georgia Legislature Women’s Caucus in 2021. Castle-Connolly Associates named her one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors, in Family/Geriatric Medicine 2009-2013, as published in the Atlanta Magazine.

Tonya Jackson, MA, MT-BC

Tonya Jackson, MA, MT-BC, is a music therapist with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine and works in the Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Tonya is a board-certified music therapist who received her bachelor’s in music therapy at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and master’s in music therapy at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana.

Tonya started the music therapy program at G.V. Sonny Montgomery VAMC in Jackson, Mississippi and is currently providing music therapy services at the Indianapolis VA. She is the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran and the wife of an OIF/OEF Veteran. Tonya is passionate about music therapy and honored to support veterans, service members, and their families in improving health, wellness, and quality of life.

Creative Forces^®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs that seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers.

The program places creative arts therapies at the core of patient-centered care at clinical sites throughout the country, including telehealth services, and increases access to community arts activities to promote health, well-being, and quality of life for military service members, veterans, and their families and caregivers. Creative Forces is managed in partnership with Civic Arts, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, and Mid-America Arts Alliance