DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous: The Beating Heart Retreat

The Beating Heart Retreat: The Art and Science of Health

Join us for a special DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous retreat that brings together ancient healing traditions and contemporary scientific insights.

To retreat is to step back into a space of reflection and renewal. Through a mix of talks and experiential practices, this program offers a holistic perspective on health and well-being. Participants will be invited to take part in breath-based sound exercises and communal storytelling—activities shown to reduce stress, foster resilience, and support inner balance.

We will hear from experts in integrative medicine and sound healing who will share how time-honored wisdom, and modern science can work in tandem to awaken our innate capacity for healing and inspire new pathways to vitality.

Featuring

Fred Johnson
Fred Johnson is the community engagement specialist at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, Florida, and performing artist-in-residence, National Academy of Sciences. A jazz vocalist known to contemporaries like B.B. King, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Aretha Franklin, Johnson has performed with these legends since his first St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, gig in 1977. His tours have taken him from Memphis to the Middle East, using song and rhythm to create harmony in areas of conflict. Johnson has 45 years of experience empowering less privileged communities through creative expression. Mentored by masters of West African oral and healing traditions, he reexamines the healing power of artistic expression in contemporary contexts. Notably, his work with the National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Forces initiative supports military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mikhail (Misha) Kogan, MD
Mikhail Kogan is the chief medical officer of the GW Center for Integrative Medicine, Associate Professor of Medicine and George Washington University, and the Founder of AIM Health Institute. Additionally, Kogan concluded Suluk Academy, a four-year advanced spiritual school in Sufi Lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan. His leadership in advancing evidence-based integrative practices makes him a vital partner in aligning sound healing with clinical health strategies.

Moira G. McGuire
CAPT (Ret) Moira G. McGuire is a retired nurse officer with the US Public Health Service who has more than three decades of leadership across federal healthcare systems, national public health initiatives, and integrative wellness programs. As the former Chief of Integrative Health & Wellness at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, she developed and scaled pioneering programs addressing chronic disease, behavioral health, and the care of wounded, ill, and injured service members. As the former Chief of the Arts in Health Program at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, she led the creation of nationally recognized arts and health initiatives, authored operational and evaluation frameworks adopted across federal and civilian platforms, and advised on strategic policy for multiple federal agencies. She is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine and George Mason University’s Arts Management Program. She serves as the Co-Executive Director of the US Public Health Service Music Ensemble, the editorial board of the newly launched Perspectives on Arts in Health journal and is a board member of the National Organization for Arts in Health.

About DASER

DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER) is organized to explore several key questions: What are the relationships among art, science, technology, culture, and all related disciplines or systems of understanding? How do these disciplines relate to one another to foster creativity, innovation, and discovery? What are the tangible results of these interactions? DASER aims to create community and discussion around the intersection of art and science.

DASER is organized by Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology. The thoughts and opinions expressed in the DASER events are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the National Academy of Sciences or of Leonardo.