Music Meet-Up
On October 3, 2024, then-first-year MD student Peter Nam reached out to connect with then-resident physician Dr. Kate Lee, whom he had read about in the Duke Department of Medicine news, in search of a way to get involved in providing music therapy for patients. Normally, volunteering to play for patients through Volunteer Services at Duke requires a time commitment of 2 hours per week, which many health professions students cannot guarantee. With a promise from Le Well to help if the activity could be offered to interprofessional HPE students meeting requirements to be present in the hospital, Nam got to work. By the end of October 2024, he had recruited classmates as well as a faculty mentor, Dr. Tingrui Zhao, and applied for club status through the Davison Council. By mid-November, the club was official and was recruiting and auditioning students to play for patients at Duke University Hospital.
Music Meet-Ups followed in January 2025 and March 2025, with a relaxed, coffee-house vibe and musicians and consumers of music spending time together creating and listening to music. The mournful sounds of vocals and cello. The unexpected combination of beat-boxing and flute. Improvisation. Memorized pieces. Students exhibited their talent and love of music and recruited other participants to join Musical Rounds.
Fast forward less than one year to September 30, 2025. Le Well and Musical Rounds partnered once again to host a Music Meet-Up with an opportunity to learn about and sign up to participate in Musical Rounds while enjoying fellowship, music, Guasaca (courtesy of Musical Rounds), coffee and dessert (furnished by Le Well).
Musical Rounds has expanded to include musical offerings to patients hospitalized on medical, pediatrics, and brain injury units. Participants have t-shirts with a creative logo (a stethoscope in the shape of a treble clef, with ear pieces forming a heart). School of Medicine students who are interested in learning more about the opportunity of offering music to patients hospitalized at Duke University Hospital are encouraged to sign up for the Musical Rounds email list.
