Theresa Allison Appointed Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professor

We are pleased to announce that Theresa Allison, MD, M Music, PhD has been selected as the Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professor in Clinical Translational Research in Aging within the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. Dr. Allison is a family physician, geriatrician and doctorally-trained ethnomusicologist (music anthropologist) who is a leading qualitative researcher focused on the potential for music to support identity, relationships and social well-being among people with dementia and their care partners. She received her BA in Music from Carleton College, her PhD in Musicology as well as her MD from the University of Illinois, and completed a residency in Family & Community Medicine and a Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. 

Seven years ago, Dr. Allison received a NIH Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award as part of a mid-career pivot from Geriatrics clinical program leadership to Geriatrics clinical research leadership. Before this transition, Dr. Allison had been a successful clinical program builder who led and expanded our Home Based Primary Care Program across the San Francisco VA Health Care System. After expanding clinical services for our Veterans across six counties, she approached me saying that she could further increase her impact if she leveraged her dual medical and doctoral music training to become a clinician investigator. Since then, she has built a highly effective research program that conducts high-impact research at the intersection of music, well-being, dementia, caregiving, relationships, and the care of older adults. Her research has identified many ways that music builds community, supports relationships, and enhances well-being across long-term care and home settings. She also serves as a qualitative methods expert in clinical trials of choir- and piano-improvisation-based interventions. Her research has been recognized by awards from the Society for Ethnomusicology and the American Geriatrics Society. Her current study, funded through a RF1 from the National Institute on Aging, examines the impact of music on well-being following a new diagnosis of dementia.

The Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Translational Research in Aging was established in 2009 with a $2.5 million gift to UCSF from the Dr. Harris M. Fishbon Fund of the Mount Zion Health Fund and the Jewish Home of San Francisco, now known as the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (SFCJL). Dr. Christine Ritchie was the inaugural Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professor in Clinical Translational Research in Aging, which she held until she left UCSF. Dr. Allison is the second holder of this Distinguished Professorship, which supports the development of clinical research across UCSF and SFCJL that will improve the care and health of older people, especially those who receive care in skilled nursing facilities.

We thank the search committee (chaired by Dr. Michael Steinman) for conducting this successful recruitment.  We thank Theresa for taking on this important work.

We will be celebrating Dr. Allison’s selection as the Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Translational Research in Aging on Wednesday January 28th 3:30pm-4pm as part of our Division-wide Meeting in the Chancellor’s Conference room S-118 in the Parnassus Medical Sciences building, so please join us!

- Louise C. Walter, MD