About this Event:

This session led by accomplished professional guitar player and medical musician Andrew Schulman will explore the healing power of music in critical care units. He will share his inspiring personal story, including how music saved his life while in a medically-induced coma, critically ill and given very little chance of surviving. This experience inspired him to give back to the medical staff who cared for him by returning to the ICU as a musician and using music to help heal patients.

Mr. Schulman will discuss the history of music and medicine, and how music can affect patient outcomes and satisfaction. Additionally, he will explore how music helps medical teams by improving morale and alleviating burnout. During this presentation, he will illustrate various stories with his guitar playing.

About Andrew Schulman:

Andrew Schulman is a professional guitarist based in New York City, with multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Royal Albert Hall and other famous concert halls around the world. Mr. Schulman was the Medical Musician in the Surgical ICU in Beth Israel Medical Center in New York from 2010-16, then played in the Surgical, Medical, and Neurosurgical ICUs at NYU Langone Medical Center in 2017. He held a residency at Berkshire Medical Center in Massachusetts from 2017 to 2020. Since April 2020, he has been the Visiting Artist/Medical Musician in the Arts and Humanities Program at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He is co-founder of the Medical Musician Initiative, and the author of Waking the Spirit: A Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul (Macmillan:Picador, 2016). He is currently writing a novel about the power of music to heal.