Night of Music Therapy Oct. 10

Cleveland music therapist Deforia Lane has designed and implemented music therapy programs for such diverse populations as the mentally handicapped, abused children, geriatric clients, behaviorally and psychiatrically disturbed, adult and pediatric cancer patients and the terminally ill.

She will discuss music therapy and her work in pediatrics, hospice and the general hospital setting at "Night of Music Therapy" at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, in the Center for the Performing Arts at Illinois State University.  Admission is $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty-staff and $4 for students and senior citizens.

Lane is associate director of the Ireland Cancer Center and director of Music Therapy at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Ireland Cancer Center and Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.  She completed her bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, attended Cleveland State University for her master's degree and earned her Ph.D. in Music Education from Case Western Reserve University.

She has served as consultant for the Ohio Department of Mental Health, Mayo Clinic, Ohio Hospice Organization, the National Department on Aging and Sesame Street (Children's Television Workshop).  A cancer survivor herself, Lane is a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, for which she composed and recorded the song "We Can Cope."   Her work has been recognized in such publications such as Reader's Digest and Coping Magazine as well as on National Public Radio, Cable News Network, CBS This Morning, Wall Street Journal TV and ABC World News with Peter Jennings.

Among Lane's awards are the Oncology Nursing Society's Mara Mogensen Flaherty Lectureship Award and the Cleveland Negro Business and Professional Women Award.  In 1994 she received honorary membership into the Oncology Nursing Society, the highest honor they confer.