Music Therapy: Finding a Rhythm through Suffering and Illness to Illuminate Hope and Connection with Dana Kim

Dana Kim is a board-certified music therapist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.  Dana has worked on many different medical specialty teams including hematology/oncology, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, orthopaedics, pulmonology, behavioral health and liver transplant providing evidence-based music interventions for children and their caregivers.  Growing up in Noblesville, Indiana, Dana volunteered with Special Olympics swimming and an adaptive show choir that paired one-on-one volunteers and individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to learn music and basic choreography together in preparation for a concert at the end of the semester.  These experiences provided a strong foundation in the importance of mind/body connection and the unique impact music has on our brains, bodies, and emotions. 

 

Dana continued both her athletic and musical interests at Xavier University as a vocal performance major/business minor and swimmer on the Division I team.  She pursued her master’s in Music Therapy at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College with a focus on medical music therapy.  Dana has advanced music therapy trainings in clinical improvisation, guided imagery and music, and utilizing music in the neonatal intensive care unit. Dana currently specializes in providing innovative interventions for infants and children in cardiology and the neonatal intensive care unit.  She is a graduate of Monroe Carell’s Quality Academy and led a multidisciplinary team to implement a new tool for assessing and supporting perioperative anxiety.  Dana’s research interests include attachment and bonding with hospitalized infants, songwriting in palliative care, and procedural support.  When not at work, Dana enjoys making music and swimming with her daughter Carolyn and spending time with her parents and shih tzus.