Our Medical Advisors
Joseph J. Schlesinger, M.D., FCCM
Dr. Schlesinger was recently elected to the position of Vice President
of the International Association of Music and Medicine. He is an
Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Division of
Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Adjunct
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. After earning his Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration
in Jazz Piano Performance from Loyola University in New Orleans, Dr. Schlesinger
earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston. He completed residency training in Anesthesiology
followed by a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University.
While in training, Dr. Schlesinger became a B.H. Robbins scholar.
Dr. Schlesinger’s research interests include multi-sensory integration, human factors, aural perception, temporal precision, alarm development, patient monitoring, and medical education. This work led to the prestigious 2014 Education Specialty Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Besides his publication history in high-impact scientific journals, Dr. Schlesinger is a patented inventor and has been featured on the podcast “99 percent invisible,” CNN Health, and the New York Times.
Yoanna Skrobik, M.D., FRCP(c), MSc, FCCM
Professor of Medicine
Chair, Lise et Jean Saine critical care chair, Université de Montréal
Clinician Scientist, McGill University
Professor, Queens University
Fellow, American College of Critical Care Medicine
Yoanna Skrobik is an internist and intensivist with a pharmacology degree.
She is interested in analgesia, sedation and delirium, how their related
preventive and therapeutic interventions relate to cognition, and in
targeting outcomes that are meaningful to patients. Her recent research
focuses on drug exposure- a potentially modifiable element-in frail individuals.
She co-authored the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s 2013 Pain, Anxiety, and Delirium in Intensive Care Guidelines, the SCCMs 2017 Family-Centered Care in the Neonatal, Pediatric and Adult ICU Guidelines, and vice-chaired the 2018 Pain, Agitation, Delirium, Immobility and Sleep Guidelines. She invited ICU survivors to the 2018 panel and encouraged considering non-pharmacological approaches like music in the guideline recommendations. The SCCM sent her to the Medical Musician Initiative conference in 2018, and she is honoured to now be on the organization’s medical advisory board.