Jennifer Marie J. Yang, MD

When I first discovered Performing Arts Medicine (PAM) during medical school, I had no idea how to train for a career focusing on the health of musicians, dancers and the like. Eventually I discovered specializing in Rehabilitation Medicine was a good fit, but I still didn’t know where to get formal training in PAM. I attended the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) Symposium for the first time in 2012 and was excited to see a brochure for Shenandoah University – see below!

These are the programs I know of at this time. Drop me a line if you know of any others – I’m happy to spread the word!

• Graduate Certificate in PAM – Shenandoah University in Virginia, USA. I started in 2014 and graduated in 2016. It is a part-time program which can be completed in a minimum of two years. Content was delivered mostly online, with a weekend trip to the campus (about an hour’s drive from Washington, D.C.) for on-site training once per semester. While some classmates like me were already practicing clinicians, others were college-level students who received enough college credits for the certificate while completing another degree, such as physical therapy or athletic training. Program director Dr. Rose Schmieg talks about the curriculum in this podcast episode.

• PAM Fellowship – Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) and the Texas Center for Performing Arts Health. Established in 2019, it was 14 years too late for me, but I’m ecstatic that it now exists! Open to graduates of medical residency programs such as – but not limited to – Family Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Physiatry). Faculty are well-respected and experts in their field – I am privileged to call them my colleagues, especially the physiatrists: Dr. Sajid Surve and Dr. Yein Lee.

• PhD in Performing Arts Health – Texas Center for Performing Arts Health at the University of North Texas and TCOM. A “sister program” to the fellowship for physicians listed above, but concentrating more on the research aspect of PAM and longer than one year. You do not have to be a healthcare professional for this one, it is open to non-healthcare people who want to learn more about health issues in performing artists. You do, however, need a Master of Music (MM or MMus) or equivalent since it is a PhD program.

• MSc in PAM – University College London. They also offer a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip – blended online + campus delivery) and Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert – distance learning). Looks like the curriculum is pretty broad, their website lists “musculoskeletal injury, performance psychology, pain management, assessment and rehabilitation, disability, travelling and touring, dance and music performance science, management of the professional voice and research methodology”. Whew! Talk about comprehensive. As it should be, because performing artists’ health includes all that.

• Essentials of PAM Certificate Course – offered by the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) in cooperation with the American College of Sports Medicine. Usually delivered as online lectures + onsite day during the PAMA International Symposium. Physicians in the USA can get continuing medical education credits from attending this course.

• Many other tertiary-level (especially Masters or PhD degrees) programs that do not give you a degree in PAM itself but have a concentration in something PAM-related – for example, as a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences or Exercise Science with the supervising faculty having research interests in PAM.

• Special note for physical therapists: an internet search for “performing arts medicine fellowship”, yields several programs for physical therapists that generally run for 12 months. I do not know much about these (because they’re not designed for physicians) but I assume they give the fellow a lot of clinical exposure to PAM from a physical therapy standpoint. The American Physical Therapy Association has a Performing Arts Special Interest Group for performing arts (PASIG).