Jennifer Buchanan is Founder and Visionary Architect of JB Music Therapy (JBMT), a music therapy company that has been instrumental in the implementation of hundreds of music therapy programs throughout Canada for 30 years and that has been thrice nominated for the Community Impact Award by her local Chamber of Commerce. JBMT currently employs a diverse team of 18 Certified Music Therapists (MTAs) serving all ages in medical, education, and community care settings.

As the author of two award-winning books: Tune In and Wellness Incorporated she has become a trusted source for many television media outlets across North America and has been featured in publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Her latest book, Wellness, Wellplayed: The Power of a Playlist was written for all of us who love to make the biggest impact possible while getting the most out of life—it equips busy, mindful people with tools and supports to engage with music in a deeper way.

As an invited keynote speaker at national and international conventions, Buchanan speaks on music and mental health, music therapy, and health entrepreneurship to a wide variety of education, healthcare, government, small business, and corporate wellness audiences.

Combining her music therapy experience with her MBA, Buchanan is the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Music Therapists. The Canadian music therapy community presented her with their two most prestigious awards: the Norma Sharpe Award for lifetime achievement and the Frani Award, named after her long-time mentor and friend and the pioneer of music therapy in Canada.

Andrew Bulloch is a founding member of the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. He holds a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of North Wales. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Washington and at the University of Iowa. He has been a faculty member of the University of Calgary since 1982.

His current research interests are in psychiatric epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology. He is researching the risk factors for major depression and bipolar disorder, including substance abuse. Much of this research involves analysis of data from health surveys by Statistics Canada.

Bulloch’s teaching interests are in mental disorders and their biopsychosocial causes, and in the history of neuroscience, psychiatry, and music. As a former musician with a strong interest in mental health, Bulloch is involved in several initiatives concerning the application and effectiveness of music therapy in the treatment of mental disorders.

Dr. Bin Hu is an endowed professor at the University of Calgary for Parkinson’s disease research and Director of the Canadian Ambulosono and ACSCON program and Canada-China Alliance for Precision Medicine which are all dedicated to the development of non-pharmaceutical interventions and management of neurological diseases.

Hu has received many domestic and international awards and recognitions for his work on brain cellular networks of learning and memory of auditory cues, language comprehension and music perception. He was the founding head of Division of Translational Neuroscience and has led three large-scale, public funded and million-dollar translational research programs that developed second-generation wearable technology and digital health platforms for the diagnosis, treatment and telehealth of neurological diseases and Parkinson’s disease in particular (known as Ambulosono-ACSCON Project).

Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze came to international attention in 2018 upon winning the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary AB Canada—among the largest prizes in classical music. His recitals around the globe have been met with universal critical praise, and recent album releases have received extraordinary accolades, including: the Choc de Classica, Record of the Month in Limelight, Instrumental Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Editor’s Choice in Presto Classical, and Critics’ Choice in International Piano.

Among the most critically acclaimed musicians of his generation, Namoradze was bestowed the 2020 & 2021 Young Pianist Award by the UK Critics’ Circle, which called him “very much more than a top-flight pianist.” His current activities include recitals at concert halls including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan; festival appearances at Tanglewood, Banff, Gstaad, Santa Fe, and more; and performances with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Sinfonieorchester Basel, with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Karina Canellakis, and Ken-David Masur.

After completing his undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna, and Florence, Namoradze moved to New York for his master’s at The Juilliard School and his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff, and Eliso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. He currently pursues postgraduate studies in neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, where his research interests include the effects of mental practice and mindfulness on musical performance. Namoradze is the author of the book Ligeti’s Macroharmonies, published by Springer in the Computational Music Science series, and his compositions are published by Muse Press.

Stephanie Plamondon, MD, FRCPC is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary, and a member of Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education. Dr. Plamondon trained in Human Kinetics at the University of Windsor in Ontario, completing her MD and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency at McMaster University. She is a former program director for the PM&R Residency Training program, PM&R Quality Improvement lead with certification in Patient Safety and Quality management, founded and currently co-chairs the Division Patient Safety and Quality Council. Her area of clinical practice is Adult Neuromuscular Rehabilitation.

Dr. Plamondon has been leading the National Music Centre donation-funded Calgary zone Music therapy inpatient program for the last six years, and co-founded HEAR Music Alberta, a transdisciplinary network of healthcare, music professionals, and students aimed at integrating music and music therapy into healthcare through education, advocacy, and research. She is also a member of the Cumming School of Medicine Health Humanities Committee at the University of Calgary teaching Health Humanities to medical students, and active on the organizing committee for the April 2022 Canadian Association of Health Humanities “Creating Space” 12.