Dr June Tan Sheren

MBBS (Singapore), MMed Family Medicine (Singapore), MSc Performing Arts Medicine (UCL, UK)
Consulting Physician, The Musicians’ Clinic @ YST Conservatory of Music, NUS Family Physician

Dr Sheren is a Family Physician and a pioneer in Performing Arts Medicine in Singapore. After graduating in 1997 from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS) and completing postgraduate studies in Family Medicine, she discovered the field of Performing Arts Medicine which allowed her to blend her medical expertise with her passion for the arts. She earned a Master’s with Distinction in Performing Arts Medicine from University College London (UCL) and is the only physician in Singapore formally qualified in this unique field. With a firm background in primary care, she draws on her knowledge, skills and experience to care for performing artists through a holistic and multi-dimensional lens.

She runs The Musicians’ Clinic @ YST, a pro-bono service for students of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, providing a safe space for their physical and mental health needs. She also serves as medical advisor and physician to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). She was awarded a grant by the National Arts Council to support her presentation of her Master’s research, Performance-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Professional Orchestral Musicians, at the 41st Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) Annual Symposium 2023 in New York City.  In August 2024 she presented a symposium to introduce Performing Arts Medicine for the first time ever to primary care doctors at the Asia-Pacific WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) Conference in Singapore, supported again by the NAC. She has given talks and written content for the world’s leading Performing Arts Medicine organizations like PAMA and BAPAM (British Association for Performing Arts Medicine), as well as for the SSO, NUS, LaSalle College of the Arts and Voices of Singapore. She has been invited back to UCL as guest lecturer in their Performing Arts Medicine programme. In her spare time, she plays the piano and cello.

Claudia Kahrs • Student Research Assistant & Volunteer • 2024 - Present

Claudia is a bachelor's student pursuing Cognitive Science at Technical University Darmstadt in Germany. She is an exchange student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and contributes to the Center for Music and Health's (CMH) NOURISH project.

With her passion for music, nurtured via piano studies at the Music Academy Darmstadt (Tonkunstakademie), she blends technical and artistic pursuits. In Germany, she is writing her bachelor's thesis on music cognition at the Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Her efforts to enhance her musical and technical proficiency have been recognized by the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, a distinguished scholarship awarded by the German government for outstanding academic achievement and community involvement.

Being half-Chinese and half-German, Claudia enjoys embracing both facets of her heritage in Singapore's culturally diverse environment.

Isabel Matthews • Intern & Volunteer • 2024 & 2026

Isabel is a musician and aspiring researcher dedicated to improving well-being and enhancing community resilience through the arts. She is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Australia, and is currently pursuing her honours year in Singapore, funded by the New Colombo Plan (NCP) Scholarship and the Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship. With a background in music and community-based research, Isabel is passionate about enhancing our understanding of how the arts can foster a sense of community among diverse populations. This is the focus of her current thesis, which explores the role of music in strengthening community bonds among students living on campus in Singapore.

In addition to her research interests, Isabel is also passionate about utilising music for social impact. One of Isabel's proudest achievements is co-founding Muse, a social enterprise that organised concerts to raise funds for refurbishing second-hand instruments for donation to underprivileged schoolchildren. As Project Leader of Muse and President of Enactus at Griffith University, she led efforts to donate over 25 instruments to schools in Lismore following the 2021 floods, an achievement of immense personal pride. Isabel also served as Campus Director of the Millennium Fellowship, a United Nations-endorsed leadership program empowering students globally to address critical community and global challenges.

Isabel grew up singing in community choirs, which inspired her passion for how the arts can foster community connection. Her choral credits include performing with Opera Queensland, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the Queensland Ballet, as well as performing as a soloist at the ANZAC Day ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France. More recently, Isabel has been exploring her classical singing aspirations and has featured in the Val Machin Opera Scenes and Iolanthe (Gilbert and Sullivan) with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, as well as the Bach Cantata Series, French Melodies, and Asian Civilisations Museum Concert with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Singers.

Laura Yee • Student Intern & Volunteer • 2023 - Present

Laura is an undergraduate at Rice University in the United States, studying biology and history. She has worked on CMH’s collaboration with the National Kidney Foundation, investigating the efficacy of music intervention as a way to alleviate the negative effects associated with dialysis treatment. She has also helped with research for CMH’s Arts and Heritage for Health Evaluation Toolkit. 

Having played violin and piano from a young age, Laura understands the power of music and hopes that the intersection of medicine and music will continue to grow in the coming years.

Back in the States, her work is a little less arts focused, as she works primarily in a genetics laboratory investigating the roles and interactions of specific proteins in the Notch cellular signaling cascade. 

Raeanne Wong • Student Research Assistant • 2024 - Present

A soprano with a deep love for music, Raeanne made her solo debut in Prague’s St Martin in the Wall Church at age 14. Growing up, she learnt the piano and violin, and graduated as a voice major from School of The Arts in 2023. She currently sings with the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir. Notable performances with the Singapore Symphony Choruses includes the SSO’s Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony in 2025, the Asian Premiere of Kozlovsky’s Requiem in 2023, the official re-recording of Singapore’s National Anthem in 2019, and the 33rd ASEAN Gala Dinner in 2018.

Raeanne finds most meaning in using her voice to bring hope to those in need, and has sung for worthy causes such as the national fundraiser ChildAid and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 2019, she sang the opening solo for Singapore’s Bicentennial Christmas Concert with then PM Lee in attendance. Most recently, Raeanne sang as a soloist for the SSO’s 2025 “Organ Music in a Different Light”, the 2025 Victoria Concert Hall Open House, and the Raffles Hotel Magic Hour concert series in 2024. She enjoys competing internationally, and won First Place in the American Protégé International Competition Opera Aria Category in 2022.

With music woven so deeply into her life, Raeanne is a firm believer in the healing power of music. She hopes to share this same passion with others, and is grateful for the opportunity to meld her interests in music and health as she studies Medicine on a Performing and Visual Arts Scholarship at NUS. She is currently working on the “Arts for Health Evaluation Toolkit” at CMH.

Seah Wei Hong • Student Research Assistant • 2024 - Present

As a Year 2 Psychology undergraduate student, Wei Hong is always eager to understand, learn and discover new concepts and knowledge empirically and from others around. Coming from a background with some music training in addition to his major studies, his interests lie in music cognition, cognitive psychology, and the area in between.

New to the research scene, his personal aims would be building foundations through research experiences, enriching his conceptual and theoretical knowledge through them, and bridging those together while contributing to the projects to the best of his abilities. He highly anticipates and looks forward to a meaningful, tiring yet fruitful journey ahead.

Ang Yien Ning • Intern & Volunteer • 2025 - Present

Yien Ning is a fourth-year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, majoring in Food Science and Technology. Her passion for music and health was sparked by a deeply personal experience - watching her grandmother with dementia recall and sing along to familiar song lyrics. Since then, she has been fascinated by the therapeutic potential of music and its power to connect, heal, and uplift.

Classically trained in both piano and violin, she actively participates in community orchestras such as the Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra and enjoys picking up new instruments in her free time. As part of a NUS College of Alice & Peter Tan (CAPT) initiative, she spearheaded a project to teach guitar to boys at Singapore Boys’ Hostel, witnessing firsthand how music can build confidence and connection.

Now an intern at the YST Centre for Music and Health, she is excited to deepen her understanding of music’s impact on well-being. She is currently involved in the COHESION and SOL projects and looks forward to contributing to the centre’s mission of advancing music as a force for health and social change.

Ho ZhiYing • Student Research Assistant • 2026 - Present

Zhi Ying is a Year 4 Life Sciences undergraduate at the National University of Singapore with a strong interest in public health and ageing research. Passionate about the role of the arts in wellbeing, she has witnessed firsthand how music and movement can foster meaningful social connections and positively impact mental and emotional health through her experience as a dancer.

At CMH, she contributed to the COHESION project, which aims to promote health and well-being among older adults through choral singing. Through this project, she developed a deeper appreciation for community-based approaches to healthy ageing and the potential of the arts to enhance quality of life. She aspires to pursue a Master’s in Public Health and hopes to contribute to more initiatives that promote healthier communities.