Music & Memory

Music & Memory

About MUSIC & MEMORY®

MUSIC & MEMORY® is a service of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), a leader in advancing the therapeutic power of music to awaken, stimulate, and heal. Through the use of personalized music playlists, we help individuals with a wide range of cognitive and physical conditions engage with the world, ease pain, and reclaim their humanity.

By providing access and education, and by creating a network of Music & Memory certified organizations, our goal is to make the therapeutic use of personalized music a standard of care throughout the health care industry.

Help Music & Memory bring the joy of personalized music to more individuals living with Alzheimer's and dementia, and other cognitive limitations.

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The Power of Personalized Music

The Fund for NYC Health + Hospital’s short film, Healing with Harmony: A Music & Memory Story beautifully captures Music & Memory’s positive impact on residents and staff.

If there was a new drug that alleviated symptoms for people living with dementia, a pill that helped them to feel joyful and able to communicate again, we’d rush to make it available to every person in our care. All the more so if that same drug reduced falls, delirium, and pain; if it improved post-surgical and rehab outcomes; and if it reduced reliance on mood-altering medications.

Those positive outcomes happen daily at Music & Memory certified organizations in the U.S. and worldwide. But no miracle pill is involved. Rather, the effective intervention of favorite music, used according to evidence-based best practices, is proving how personalized playlists offer an effective, side-effect-free, non-pharmacological approach to improving quality of life and care.

Personalized music can activate cognition and improve family visits in assisted living communities, and boost spirits and decrease pain in patients in hospitals. Personalized playlists brighten moods for individuals in adult day centers and have a dramatic impact on people in hospice and their families during their end of life journey. For individuals aging in place at home and their caregivers, research has shown that favorite songs provide respite, ease transitions and reduce caregiver stress.

As Music & Memory enters its twelfth year, a growing body of research proves how personalized playlists change lives for the better. These studies inform our training and fuel our efforts to spread the power of favorite music to millions more who could benefit.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MUSIC & MEMORY® CERTIFICATION TRAINING

Who We Are

Staff

JUSTIN RUSSO

Director of Programming

As Director of Programming for Music & Memory, Justin Russo is responsible for Music & Memory’s certification training and support services, as well as fundraising and communications for the charity. Prior to joining Music & Memory in 2015, Justin worked for AHRC New York City, one of New York’s largest providers of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, where he discovered a passion for technology and program sustainability. He is also a lifelong musician with experience in music composition and production, as well as touring with many accredited artists. Most recently, his group, The Silent League, released new music after a several year hiatus. Justin holds a BA from Purchase College and an MBA from Baruch College.
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Scientific and Medical Advisory Council

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G. ALLEN POWER, MD

G. Allen Power is a board-certified internist and geriatrician, as well as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester. Dr. Power is a Certified Eden Alternative® Educator, a member of the Eden Alternative board of directors and an international educator on transformational models of care for older adults, particularly those living with cognitive illness. His 2010 book, Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care, won a 2010 Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing. Dr. Power serves on the technical advisory panel for the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for their national antipsychotic reduction initiative. He received a 2012 Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for his work on innovative responses to global aging and was recently named one of “Five Leaders of Tomorrow” by Long Term Living Magazine. He serves as adviser for Dementia Care Australia, the South Africa Care Forum and Ibasho.
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JULES ROSEN, MD

Jules Rosen is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry Services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program. A nationally recognized expert in geriatric psychiatry, he has authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Rosen’s research interests include pharmacological treatment of behavioral disturbances in dementia and organizational changes in nursing homes to enhance quality of life. He has developed and tested a variety of educational tools to enhance the care of nursing homes residents. Dr. Rosen is also the Director of the Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship, Clinician-Educator Track. In 2003 he was named Educator of the Year by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry.
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SUSAN WEHRY, MD

Susan Wehry a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist and advocate for seniors and persons with disabilities, has educated physicians, nurses, medical students, ombudsmen, policy makers and direct care workers from Alaska to Louisiana. A popular speaker, Dr. Wehry keynoted the 2003 and 2006 Annual Meeting of National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform and the 2009 Pioneer Network Conference. She also assisted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the development of national web-casts on mental health needs and individualized care planning in nursing homes. In 2011, Dr. Wehry was appointed Vermont’s Commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living. She is committed to the Department’s mission to “make Vermont the best state in the nation in which to grow old—or to live with a disability—with dignity, respect and independence.”
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Partnerships

A steady stream of anecdotal success stories and smaller research studies have prompted leading researchers to embark on large, multi-year investigations of Music & Memory’s personalized music program. The largest is a $3.7 million, five-year National Institute of Aging grant to Brown University’s Center for Long-Term Care Quality & Innovation to test Music & Memory’s efficacy and effectiveness. This follows a retrospective evaluation that found reduced use of antipsychotic medications and improved behaviors among nursing homes certified in the program compared to control facilities, suggesting that there might be an effect when researchers capture detailed data on implementation and outcomes. The ongoing study involves capturing such data, in order to more definitively examine the program’s effect and to characterize implementation strategies leading to successful Music & Memory programs and outcomes.

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