Issue No. 45 | January 2016
Medical student-led musical group, Ultra Sounds, performs a winter concert in the Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building.
Ultra Sounds of Joy
Medical student-led group uplifts through music 

The connection between music and medicine is undeniable.

"Music has a healing power," said second-year medical student Christine Shrock. "For patients, I have seen music bring a smile to their faces or turn a quiet ward into one echoing with the sounds of patients and families singing along."

Shrock is co-director of Ultra Sounds, a musical group led by school of medicine students. What started off as a social group of musically inclined future physicians has now expanded to some 70 people from schools across the East Baltimore campus, including the school of nursing,  school of public health and the biomedical engineering program.  With a repertoire that includes classical, funk, bluegrass and jazz, the group  hosts concerts, performs at campus events and is also available for special requests.

When it seemed as if intensive care unit patient Bruce Meeks wouldn't be able to attend his daughter Tiffany's wedding, nursing staff coordinated a ceremony in the hospital's Bunting Interfaith Chapel. Ultra Sounds and its sister a cappella group, Note-a-Chords, provided the tunes. Read and watch Fox Baltimore's coverage. 

"One of most meaningful parts of Ultra Sounds has been the opportunity to share music with patients in the hospital," Shrock said. "Each time a patient, family member, or hospital staff member has smiled, joined us in singing a song, or thanked us for sharing music to them, it has been heartwarming to know that our music can bring hope and joy to others."

Spreading joy through music is not limited to the hospital. Thanks to the generosity of Patricia A. Thomas, M.D., F.A.C.P., and her husband, Christopher T. Bever, Jr., M.D., a piano is now located on the second floor of the Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building. 

Denyce Graves and Levi Garraway were the featured speakers at the 34th annual Johns Hopkins Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration on Jan. 8.
Credit: Keith Weller 
A Tribute To 2 Legacies
Annual MLK commemoration honors Levi Watkins Jr., M.D.

The 2016 Johns Hopkins Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration was the first without its founder, Levi Watkins Jr., M.D.

Renowned for his medical and civil rights accomplishments at Hopkins, Watkins  died in April at the age of 70 .

In tribute, Watkins' nephew, Levi Garraway, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, spoke on how passionate his uncle was about justice, excellence and Johns Hopkins. Renowned mezzo soprano Denyce Graves shared fond memories of Watkins and performed "Levi-isms" opera-style. The Jan. 8 event also included powerful gospel selections from Unified Voices, a choir of Johns Hopkins employees and community residents.

Watkins will be honored during a memorial performance at the 24th Annual Trumpet Awards, which airs tonight, Friday, Jan. 29 at 9 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m. on Bounce TV. Check your local listings.

Dean Rothman speaks on "Medicine in 2055" at the joint meeting of the ASCI and AAP in November 2015.
Medicine in 2055
Dean Rothman delivers AAP presidential address

Paul Rothman, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, delivered the Association of American Physicians' presidential address, "Medicine in 2055," at the 2015 joint meeting of the AAP and American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).  Rothman, who severed as AAP president from 2014 to 2015, discussed advancements in disease treatment over the past 30 years and the future of medicine.