Spotlight: - Siji Osunkoya

Viola - MD candidate

What’s your connection to healthcare?

I am currently a medical student at the Perelman School of medicine. M1, so I just got here. I am really enjoying the experiences that I’ve had so far - being able to learn more about the human body and appreciating the people I have been able to meet both academically and also through extracurriculars like PMSO.

Why did you choose to pursue your current field?

The first thing that drew me to medicine was this summer program I did in 5th or 6th grade about the brain. And of course, me as an elementary schooler, I did not really know much about it, but I got to hold a dissected sheep brain for the first time and I was like “this is cool!” I guess that’s what got me really interested in neuroscience in general. Of course I got more opportunities to shadow and do some research in high school and a lot more in undergrad and was able to see more doctor-patient interactions. My PI was also an MD, so I got to see how she interacted with the patients who were part of the clinical trials for the type of stuff we were doing. So just through the culmination of all of that and volunteering I did at Emory’s Cancer Institute, I was able to more closely see the type of impacts that physicians had on their patients.

What instrument(s) do you play in PMSO, and how long have you played these instrument(s)?

I play viola and have been playing for a bit over 8 years. 

Why did you start playing your instrument(s)?

I am an ex-pianist, I played up until high school and was in choir up until high school as well. I was planning on doing choir in high school but had this vendetta against the high school choir director, so much so that I decided to pick up an instrument. That same day when I made that decision, my friends in middle school orchestra were taking their instruments home so I asked them for an instrument demo. My friends who had violins did not have any finger tapes on their instruments but my friend who had viola did, so I was like “I want to do that one”. I worked out though because I really grew to love the viola over my time in high school and in undergrad. I am really glad that I’m able to continue that interest in post-grad life.

Why is music important to you?

I have a BA in composition, so I was a composition music major as well as neuroscience in undergrad. Composition is really special to me because it’s an art form - an auditory art. I think that it’s a way of expressing how I feel. While not as direct as with song-writing lyrics, it’s more about ambiance and vibes, especially in instrumental orchestra or chamber music. I feel like that almost removes a limiter of expression that you could have with other forms of art because it’s so up to interpretation by what the listener is getting from what I am producing. From the performer side I really like being able to interpret what the composer had put down in the music and trying to then pick that up and express it in my own way for other people to hear - so then they are hearing both my interpretation of the composers original voice. I really like that flow of information from the composer to the page and then the page to being picked up and expressed outward by a performer to a listener. It’s able to reach a lot of people in that sense.

Do you think music and healthcare can complement each other in any way?

I did some volunteering at the Emory Cancer Institute and outside of being a lab runner, I would perform with an arts and health initiative for musicians performing for patients there in the lobby area. I would have patients come up and be like “I used to play this when I was younger!” and we would be able to connect on how much they enjoyed the experience of playing, while others would come up and say “I remember listening to those songs many years ago” and share how nice it was to listen to them again. While not as directly as a clinical trial for some new drug, I did feel that the mental and emotional experience of music can also help with healing that’s different from medications.

In my research in undergrad, my PI was a retired dancer who decided to get her MD after a professional dancing career, so her entire lab was about how tango music and dance trials could help alleviate the motor and cognitive symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Whether it's through the music itself, the intrinsic rhythm that tango has, or even if its just through the community building with music - I feel like music can lead to healing in some way.

My honors thesis was a joint composition-neuroscience honors thesis and I was trying to investigate the neurologic and psychological underpinnings of the emotions we feel when we listen to music, in addition to what about the music itself, what specific compositional aspects whether it's the timbre, orchestration, or the harmony gives rise to the emotions that we are feeling. Through that research I was able to see that music does make a difference: music is able to active that dopamine system that gets activated when you eat really good food or hit a jackpot when you’re gambling - that activation by music I think is something that people consider so intangible. It’s not necessarily something that’s required for survival like food is, but it’s still activating the same neurocircuitry that something so essential is. I find that really interesting and I think that there is a lot of potential. And of course there are ways that music has been integrated to health care through things like music therapy, but think there’s so much more that could be explored with music’s impact on health.

Why did you get involved in PMSO?

Aside from HUP being one of the best hospitals in the country, another big priority for me was whether I would be able to continue music as a postgrad student. Just as much as neuroscience and medicine was part of me, music was also equal or half. If I was not here I would probably be doing a PhD somewhere in music or composition, so being able to go to a place that had an orchestra allowing me to have another community with like-minded peers whether it’s from this medical school, other medical schools, or the nursing school, or even practicing physicians and nurses, being able to have that sort of community was one of the top reasons I had in mind when picking out the medical schools I was applying to or schools that I would really want to go to. This was something that I intentionally sought out. Even when I was writing my application for coming here, the fact that it had such a great medical orchestra was one of the reasons that I put in on my list, so I feel like having the opportunity to be here and continue music was a no-brainer.

What has your experience in PMSO been like so far?

I have really enjoyed it. David is a really good conductor. I was able to take a conducting class in undergrad and never really put much thought as to what happens on the other side of the podium. I had the experience of like what here’s how I respond to the gestures being made then the actuality of playing the orchestra as an instrument and then giving your own voice to the masterworks in the past and being able to close the gap between what is being heard and your artistic vision of what is on the page, that process I had no idea how extensive and complicated it was. So for someone who is not doing this full time, like a full MD-PhD and still has time to do this stuff. So even just from that front I have really enjoyed what he’s been able to do with this orchestra given the time constraints. I enjoy the community, there’s maybe 6 of us in the med school class in the orchestra or even the chamber program, so I’ve been able to find my own mini-community in my med-school class like “Oh! You play an instrument too!” or like “Oh right, we have rehearsal today!”. It’s really fun to have another layer of community and being able to come together and be able to make music for other people to hear. 

What is your favorite piece that you’ve performed with us? Have there been any highlights of playing with the orchestra?

In undergrad at Emory we played Symphonic Dances a year ago, so Fall 2023. It had been a couple months since I had last played in an orchestra and in the meantime I guess since orchestra had been such a big part of my life in undergrad, having graduated I felt like I lost something that was a core part of my life even through Covid. I started undergrad in 2020 and everything was online, but one thing I had was that my only in-person classes to introduce me to college life was through music and making music with others. So because it was such a huge part of my life, the first rehearsal when we played the Rachmaninoff, one of my fondest memories in undergrad, being able to play it again I was reminded of why I enjoy playing so much. Going through the music, I had such fond memories come up and really felt an appreciation for being able to continue doing something that I loved doing so much. 

Why should people come to the concert this year?

We are playing some fantastic pieces. Symphonic dances is genuinely one of my favorite orchestral pieces of all time, Rachmaninoff is a masterful composer. Florence Price, I really don’t normally hear much of her work premiered as much and I think that this is a great opportunity to listen. Even the fact that we have African American composer programmed - I love that. Capriccio Espagnol is a classic. To hear something really lively and upbeat. I think that the repertoire for this cycle has been picked really really well. I don’t think there’s a single piece that people won’t like. Also come to show support for their friends, acquaintances or just the medical community in general. 

Interview with Siji Osunkoya prior to the Fall 2024 concert. Published 12/8/2024