On a recent Monday night at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, four bands took to the stage to determine who ruled rock. But manning the mics, guitars, and drums weren't your typical hipsters -- the members of these bands were students and administrators from Philadelphia's premier medical schools, and their scientific credentials are almost as hot as their licks. For example, the nine members of funk band the linkurl:Freaks of Nurture;http://www.myspace.com/freaksofnurture are publishing in prestigious scientific journals such as linkurl:__Nature Medicine,__;http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n10/abs/nm.1870.html linkurl:__Nature Neuroscience,__;http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v3/n1/abs/nn0100_74.html linkurl:__Blood__;http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/25/6428 and linkurl:__PNAS.__;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783364/?tool=pubmed
the Freaks of Nurture
Image: Edyta Zielinska
The musicians hailed from four area medical schools (Thomas Jefferson University, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and Temple University) and were brought together by the local chapter of linkurl:Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSA),;http://www.psrphila.org/ an organization that promotes social consciousness and activism among physicians. Putting the event together wasn't easy, said Pat Harner, executive director of the...




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