Jody Conradi Stark, Ph.D., MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist with over 35 years of clinical experience with various populations, including psychiatric, cognitively impaired, autism spectrum disorder, pre-primary impaired, at-risk children/youth, veterans, medical (pediatrics and oncology), Alzheimer’s Disease, and hospice. She is Part-Time Lecturer and Music Therapy Clinical Supervisor for Eastern Michigan University’s Music Therapy Program, Site Director of Music Therapy Clinical Services, Michigan State University Community Music School- Detroit, and President of Creative Arts Therapies, Inc., a company she started in 1991 that provides contractual music, dance-movement, and art therapy services to agencies and individuals throughout Southeastern Michigan. Dr. Stark has worked with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2016, facilitating Outreach and Engagement programs between DSO musicians and individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease or mental health challenges.
Stark received her Bachelor of Arts in Music Therapy from Colorado State University and a Master of Arts in Communication and Theatre Arts – Arts Administration from Eastern Michigan University. Stark earned her Ph.D. in Music Education (Music Therapy cognate) at Michigan State University. Her dissertation study, published in 2012, is “Perceived Benefits of Group Music Therapy for Breast Cancer Survivors: Mood, Psychosocial Well-Being, and Quality of Life.”
Among other awards, Dr. Stark was named the 2011 Educator of the Year for VSA Michigan: The State Organization on Arts and Disability, and received a 2011 Michigan Youth Arts Touchstone Award. She was also named an Emerging Engagement Scholar for the 2011 National Outreach Scholarship Conference in East Lansing, Michigan. In 2020, she received the Great Lakes Region of the American Music Therapy Association Service Award.
Dr. Stark has served as Chair of the VSA Michigan Southeast Regional Festival Committee since 1997 and was elected to the VSA Michigan (now called Michigan Arts Access) Board of Directors in 2018. She has served as an American Music Therapy Association Assembly Delegate and has presented at the local, state, national, and international levels, including the 11th World Congress of Music Therapy in Brisbane, Australia, and the 15th World Congress of Music Therapy in Tsukuba, Japan.
