Music provides a soundtrack and structure for all people regardless of age, culture or life experience. Music therapy is an evidence-based allied health profession that uses music interventions to accomplish specific goals with individuals or groups of people. In a brand-new degree program at WVU, board-certified music therapists and their students are able to serve children and adults in educational, medical and social service settings. Dr. Register will explore how the profession of music therapy is used to maintain or positively transform quality of life for people of all ages and abilities and also examine the direct benefits that live music experiences are having on the people of West Virginia.
Dena Register's Bio
Dr. Dena Register is an Associate Professor and Director of the Music Therapy program in the WVU School of Music. She joined the faculty of the College of Creative Arts in 2015 specifically to create the Music Therapy degree program and develop clinical music therapy sites across the state. As a Fulbright Scholar, she has taught and conducted research at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. She developed the “Therapeutic Uses of Music” training to begin building an awareness and appreciation among medical and education personnel of music therapy as a discipline. To date, Register has trained more than 100 professionals, initiated numerous clinical sites and offerings and consulted on research projects across Thailand. She helped develop and launch the first music therapy master’s degree program in Southeast Asia at the Mahidol University College of Music and continues her relationship with that international institution as a consultant and researcher.
Dena Register, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Music Therapy, Director of the Music Therapy program, College of Creative Arts
Breakout Session 1: 10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Breakout Session 2: 11:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.