THE KRAVIS CENTER’S NEUROARTS CONFERENCE

Captain Moira McGuire — U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Moira McGuire, chief of the Arts in Health Program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

CAPT Moira McGuire recently retired after 30 years of service as a nurse officer with the US Public Health Service where she served as Division Chief of Integrative Health & Wellness at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Chief of the Arts in Health Program a first-of-its-kind program she conceptualized and implemented at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence.
She has worked extensively with vulnerable populations in behavioral health and oncology settings, and in 2010 was hand-selected to establish the Sea Services Warrior Clinic at the National Naval Medical Center where she used her skills and experience to craft and enhance the care of our country’s wounded, ill, and injured service members as the Program Manager. She served as a member of the US Public Health Service Mental Health Team 3 from its inception in 2006 until her retirement in 2022 and served as Team Commander from 2012 to 2015. She deployed and/or facilitated over 16 deployments including Hurricane Sandy, the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, the Boston Marathon Bombing, the Unaccompanied Children Mission, and the Ebola response.
She is the founder of the annual Healing Arts Exhibit at Walter Reed, currently in its 20th year, which provides a showcase for those using the arts in their treatment and recovery experiences; a plank owner of the Public Health Service Choral Ensemble, for which she served as co-lead for 14 years; and a founding member of the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military in partnership with Americans for the Arts.
She is the daughter of a Marine opera singer/voice teacher father and pianist/painter/playwright mother who studied Irish Dance, ballet, piano, violin, flute, and harp. The focus of her professional work lies in the belief that creativity and expression are not only essential elements in the treatment of illness and injury, but in the prevention of them as well.

Theo Rooding — Composer, Musician, Veteran

Theo Rooding is a musician and composer in the Tampa Bay Area. A disabled Army veteran who found healing in artistic expression, Theo writes and performs mindful guitar music and plays familiar favorites. He participated in three seasons of the Veteran Civilian Arts Ensemble at the Straz Center composing and performing original pieces. Theo advocates for disabled veterans and the power of healing through the arts. Theo received the Regional Award and Placed Third in the Nation for his musical compositions through the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

Gaynelle Gosselin — Somatic Education Specialist

Gaynelle Gosselin is a movement education specialist with a keen interest in how mind and body interact in communication. She founded See Change Dance in 2012 to explore the creative process through movement arts. She was awarded a 2024 Palm Beach County Changemaker grant for her efforts to bring creative movement to the behavioral health recovery community. Ms. Gosselin holds an MFA in Theatre, and currently teaches at Florida Atlantic University. She has also served as a teaching artist at the Center for Creative Education and in Palm Beach County Schools. She is the Alexander Technique instructor for Ballet Palm Beach’s pre-professional training program. Gaynelle is a certified teaching member of Alexander Technique International (ATI). Since 2006, she has been using Alexander Technique and other mind/body education methods to help performing artists, educators, and other professionals learn to maximize presence, minimize performance anxiety, and enhance creativity and presentation skills. In addition to her work with See Change Dance, Ms. Gosselin performs with the Demetrius Klein Dance Company, Palm Beach County’s oldest modern dance company.

Jasmine Edwards — Music Therapist

Jasmine Edwards, MA, LCAT, MT-BC (she/her) is a doctoral fellow within Steinhardt Music Education with a focus in music therapy at New York University. Jasmine holds a BM and MA in music therapy from Florida State University and NYU, respectively. Her clinical experience includes private practice, outpatient, school-based, community, and medical pediatric settings, and she is trained in NICU-MT, First Sounds: RBL, and Austin Vocal Psychotherapy. Jasmine has a vested interest in elevating dialogues about cultural humility within music therapy education and clinical practice within both her teaching and academic writing. She has served as an adjunct faculty member in the music therapy departments at Howard University, New York University, Montclair State University, Nazareth College, Duquesne University, and Molly University.

Abasi Hanif — Percussionist

Abasi “Manblack” Hanif is a teaching artist, spoken word poet, West African drummer, event host and community organizer. He is the son of news writer, editor and teacher C. B. Hanif and fiber artist and teacher Kianga Jinaki. Mr. Hanif has owned and managed Livin’ The Rhythm for fifteen years, hosting community drum circles, performances and workshops throughout South Florida. He is a music accompanist for Palm Beach Atlantic University and the African Drum Director for Sounds of Success Community Band and Drumz Over Gunz Youth Program. He is one of the four founding members of Men of Blackness (Conscious HipHop) and a Black Cultural Event Planner with RBG of South Florida. The writer and actor has performed in Broadway Productions, including Sundiata, Pleasant City: Thee ChoreoPoem, Waking Kya and Chocolate Nutcracker, and has been nominated for numerous awards, including the 2014 Clyde Fyfe and the 2015 African American Achievers Award.

Jodi Sypher — Visual Artist / Mindfulness Through Art

Jodi Sypher, M.S. Ed. has over 17 years experience in the Art and Museum fields. Ms. Sypher is the Exhibitions Curator at the Art and Culture Center/ Hollywood. Her previous experience includes the Director of Adult Learning & Engagement at the Norton Museum of Art, and the Curator of Education at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. She is the founder of the Mindful Moments Program at the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, and the co-founder of The Art of Mindfulness program at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. Mrs. Sypher holds a Master of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education, New York, and has been certified to lead Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Classes with Brown University.