Although concerned with weighty matters, Swick himself is anything but ponderous. With cheerful, understated humor he combines the precision of medical science with the compassion and sensibility found in literature and music, in which he has a keen interest.

“Music can and has been used throughout time and across cultures as a way to heal sickness,” Swick says. “The various ‘ways’ in Navajo culture, for example, use song and have a healing intent. The Tuareg tribe of the African Sahara have elaborate music and dancing rituals as part of their healing practice.”

Even the popular tarantella music and dance of 17th-century Italy were created to purge people of the poison in a spider’s bite, he says.

The impact of illness on music is equally interesting to Swick, and he has made a study of how different composers’ illnesses — such as Beethoven’s deafness or Schumann’s manic depression — did or did not impact their work.

This spring the institute will host a three-part series for the public called “Images of Healing.” On April 11, renowned poet and radiologist from England Dannie Abse and art historian Joan Abse will present “Voices in the Gallery,” featuring selected works of art and poetry written about them. The series will continue April 25 and May 13 with UM art and music faculty participating.