PAMA VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM 2022

Dr. Nancy Byl is currently an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science at UCSF. Dr. Byl has received numerous awards including becoming a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and received the Lucy Blair Service Award. She is currently the President of the Physical Therapy Fund which supports research for young physical therapy investigators. Dr. Byl currently provides specialty lectures in the academic program, provides patient care in the UCSF PT Health and Wellness Center and is involved in multiple clinical research studies involving rehabilitation technology and exercise programs for patients post stroke and post Parkinson’s Disease.

Toronzo Cannon’s music was described by the Chicago Tribune as “deep, contemporary Chicago blues…razor-sharp guitar and compelling, forceful singing.” Over the last decade, Toronzo has emerged as an international ambassador for Chicago Blues. He’s been nominated for ten Blues Music Awards, the Grammy of the blues world. Toronzo has cut five career albums, the last two for Chicago’s famed Alligator Records. His most recent, The Preacher, The Politician Or The Pimp was released just before the pandemic. He’s writing now for another album and expects to be in the studio in the next few months.

A Chicago boogie woogie innovator and master, has been forging his own piano music legacy. Erwin has been playing and performing for over forty years. The sounds and personalities of past boogie woogie and blues pianists have nurtured Erwin's musical growth. For many years, Erwin accompanied Mama Yancey, the wife of Chicago blues piano patriarch Jimmy "Papa" Yancey, and later recorded one album with her. He was also mentored and influenced by Cripple Clarence Lofton, Speckled Red, and Sunnyland Slim. Erwin has the chops, the feel, and the drive of the masters but he also pushes the "classic" blues piano music forward in a totally new direction. He performs regularly at Chicago clubs and annually at the Chicago Blues Festival garnering rave reviews from publications such as The Reader and Chicago Magazine.

Bruce Iglauer is the president and founder of Alligator Records, the largest contemporary blues label in the world. Iglauer founded the Chicago-based label in 1971, at the age of 23. Alligator’s catalog contains over 350 CDs, over 120 produced by Iglauer. 26 of the albums he’s produced have been nominated for Grammy Awards. Alligator releases have won dozens of Blues Music Awards, the highest award the blues world presents. Bruce has managed the careers of Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Albert Collins, Son Seals and others. He has also toured extensively with Alligator artists. In addition, he is a founder of the Chicago Blues Festival. Iglauer is also the co-author of “Bitten By The Blues,” published in 2018 by University of Chicago Press. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997.

J. Matt McCrary, PhD is a multidisciplinary researcher with diverse expertise in music physiology, exercise science, clinical research, and music performance. His current research at the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine in Hannover, Germany aims to better understand the physiologic effects of playing and listening to music to: 1) inform healthier and more productive practice planning in high-level musicians; and 2) determine how playing and listening to music can be used to reduce non-communicable disease risk (e.g. cancer; heart disease) in the general population. His research has been recognized and supported by Fulbright (US/ Australia) and Humboldt (US/Germany) Fellowships and grants and awards from performing arts medicine, neuroscience, cancer, biomedical science, and music performance organizations in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US.

Flynn Smith has been working in the film industry since 2006. Originally based in Saint Louis, he has lived and worked in various locations across the United States including Wilmington NC, New Orleans, and currently, Chicago. Most notably he has been The Assistant Property Master for the NBC television show Chicago PD since 2016, working closely with actors and stunt performers in the use of firearms on set.