Episode 223: Music As Healthcare with Dr. Olapeju Simoyan

Choralosophy

The quest to advocate for music education as integral to all stages of human life, continues on Choralosophy.

I am excited to welcome Dr. Peju Simoyan, an addiction medicine physician with a fascinating musical journey. Growing up in a Nigerian diplomatic family, Dr. Simoyan has always held a passion for music, even with limited formal training, and later in life, she rekindled her desire for piano training.

Her work took an innovative turn when she began incorporating music into group sessions at an inpatient addiction facility, where it became a powerful therapeutic tool, even inspiring patients to compose songs as part of their recovery.

Together, we explore the deep connections between music, mental health, and medicine, discussing how learning and addiction share similar neural pathways, the potential of music therapy for chronic pain, and the benefits of musical training for both personal and professional development. Through our conversation, we highlight music’s profound impact on mental health and personal growth, making a case for its broader integration in both medical and educational fields. This episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how music shapes minds, heals, and inspires across disciplines.

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Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope

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Dr. Simoyan is an addiction medicine physician and holds an appointment as a full professor in the department of psychiatry at Drexel University College of Medicine. She also holds adjunct faculty positions at Penn State University College of Medicine and Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. She was the Founding Medical and Executive Director of Research at Caron Treatment Centers and the program director for the addiction medicine fellowship at Geisinger Marworth prior to her current position. She was also a founding faculty member at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Dr. Simoyan earned her medical degree from Penn State University College of Medicine, receiving the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award at graduation. She completed an internship in psychiatry/family medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center/Western Psychiatric Institute and her family medicine residency at the Penn State/Good Samaritan Hospital Family and Community Medicine Residency program, graduating with the Family Medicine Resident Award for Scholarship.

Prior to her medical training, Dr. Simoyan received a dental degree from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in Nigeria and a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine and has contributed to international public health education as a Fulbright specialist in Nigeria and an Erasmus Mundus scholar in France and the U.K. She has also volunteered on medical mission projects in Nigeria and Haiti.

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Dr. Simoyan has several peer-reviewed publications and has previously served on the editorial board of Medical Education Online, the Publications Council of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the addiction medicine sub-board of the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

She was the Founding Editor in Chief of Black Diamonds and Silver Linings, literary journals published by Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and Reading Hospital, respectively.

A member of the American Medical Women Association’s Music and Medicine committee, Dr. Simoyan has curated a photographic exhibit featuring prominent women in medicine. As someone committed to bridging the gap between the medical sciences and the arts, she has served on both the research and the medical humanities Graduate Medical Education subcommittees at Reading Hospital/Tower Health.

Dr. Simoyan’s scholarships and awards include the Emerging Leader award from the Family Medicine Education Consortium (2010) and the American Association of Medical College’s Herbert Nickens Faculty Fellowship (2012). She also received the Humanism in Medicine Award from the Arnold Gold Foundation (2022) and the Award of Excellence in Humanitarian Services from Pro-Health International (2022). She is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Medical Women’s Association and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

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She has combined her interests in writing and photography in several books, including a workbook for patients in recovery, Transformation and Recovery – lessons from the butterfly. Dr. Simoyan strongly believes in the need to transform education and healthcare, with a focus on creativity, problem solving and integration of the arts and sciences.

Addendum –

RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!

Her latest book, “I Played My Best for Him! – The Inspiring Stories Behind the Little Drummer Boy and Other Christmas Favorites” will be released on November 18, 2024. This book features the stories behind the songs on her Christmas CD,

“Peju Sings! The Little Drummer Boy and Other Christmas Favorites”

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