Jennie Gubner, PhD

Jennie is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair and Director of Graduate Studies for the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Intercultural Arts Research at the University of Arizona.

Personal Hero

Mercedes Sosa

Words of Strength

Realizing collaborative interdisciplinary projects

Vision

Jennie believes that it is at the intersection of our disciplinary lenses that the most innovative and productive conversations about brain health and aging occur. As an educator, she thinks we must advocate interdisciplinary and creative approaches to dementia and brain health education early on to give professionals and community members diverse resources through which to live healthy lives and build inclusive, age-friendly societies.

Strategy

Jennie is using her training in music, filmmaking, and intercultural studies to design interdisciplinary community-based college courses where undergraduate students from diverse disciplines can learn about aging and dementia through the lens of the arts.

Impact

Jennie is grateful to the Atlantic Fellowship for allowing her to learn about brain health from so many humble, innovative, and compassionate professionals from across the globe. From sitting in on patient visits with neurologists and geropsychiatrists to learning about the projects of her creative peers in other countries, GBHI has allowed her to understand aging and brain health from so many productive new angles.

Motivation

Jennie is excited to see students and professionals from the arts and health sciences show an increased interest in building collaborations related to arts and brain health. By advocating interdisciplinary projects that draw on inter-professional strengths and perspectives and that emerge from relationships of mutual respect, we can work to more robustly leverage the arts to support healthy aging across the lifespan.