The staff and patients of the NOMC mourn the loss on May 31, 2014 of the visionary mother of performing arts medicine. Dr. Alice Branfonbrener, 1931-2014. Alice, along with Dr. Dick Lederman, had the vision to blaze the trail for performing arts medicine. She was a remarkable doctor whose spirit, along with her smile, was infectious.
The Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) was incorporated in 1988 by Dick, Alice and group of physician colleagues who had been involved individually with the medical care of musicians and dancers. Further impetus toward formalizing their shared interest in this nascent medical specialty came with the founding of a scientific journal, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, in 1986. Both the symposium and journal began under the leadership of Dr. Alice Brandfonbrener of Chicago, who was the journal’s first editor-in-chief and who would become PAMA’s Founding President. Thanks to the PAMA cornerstone, the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic was founded in 1998.