Michael E. Charness, MD
Director and Founder, Performing Arts Clinic
Dr. Charness is board-certified in both Neurology and Internal Medicine and has been treating instrumental musicians since 1984. A co-founder of the Health Program for Performing Arts at the University of California, San Francisco, he established the Performing Arts Clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1989. A Professor of Neurology and Faculty Associate Dean for Veterans Hospital Programs at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Charness serves on the editorial board of Medical Problems of Performing Artists and has lectured internationally on the subject of performing arts medicine and injury prevention. He presents annual seminars on injury prevention at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. Dr. Charness is a pianist and performs regularly with his wife and family.
Scott Homer, MD
Dr. Homer is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician (physiatrist) specializing in hand and upper extremity musculoskeletal and nerve entrapment disorders. His interest in musician injuries stems from his background as a jazz drummer and percussionist, and he has been involved in performing arts medicine interests since 2004. During and after his physiatry residency, he pursued extensive training in hand care at orthopedic and plastic hand surgery clinics across the country, including UC Davis, the University of Michigan, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also completed a fellowship with intensive ultrasound, procedural, and injection training in Napa, California. For relevant cases he uses ultrasound to aid in the diagnosis and treatment process, and he works closely with the hand surgery division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for any relevant surgical consultation. In addition to drumming, he also enjoys playing mandolin, banjo, and guitar and is an avid music listener.
Christopher D. Stephen, MD, MRCP (UK)
Dr. Stephen is an attending neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. He has special interests in the comprehensive care of medical problems in musicians and neurological movement disorders, particularly focal dystonia. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, UK. He completed training in internal medicine at the University of Edinburgh and University of Nottingham, neurology at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Cambridge, and the Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a fellowship in movement disorders and ataxia at MGH/BWH/Children’s Hospital.
He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and is board certified in neurology. He has been involved in the Performing Arts Clinic since 2010. Dr. Stephen is actively involved in research in performing arts neurology and movement disorders. His research interests are in the overlap between dystonia and ataxia and is part of an international research collaborative on musician’s dystonia. He is an accomplished pianist and singer and trained in piano performance at the North East of Scotland Music School with pianist Joseph Long. He was a choral scholar at King’s College and longtime member of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and continues to perform locally.
