UNMC statistician to solo at Music as Medicine

The Music as Medicine series brings classical music performers to the UNMC campus.

Unless, like Robin High, they are already here.

High is a biostatistician in the College of Public Health, a seven-year UNMC veteran who works not only with public health, but colleges and departments throughout the university system.

He’s also a pianist who’s been playing since he was 6 years old, and Thursday he will be the performer at November’s Music as Medicine performance, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Durham Outpatient Center’s west atrium.

High grew up in a family that was musically inclined.

“My parents wanted to make sure that my three sisters and I had the opportunity to learn music,” he said. “I was not a dedicated student at the time, but the weekly lessons did provide a very strong foundation.”

The foundation was strong enough that High majored in music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While studying business in graduate school in Austin, Texas, he was introduced to statistics.

“I also took classes in statistics in the math department with a very fine professor there, Peter John, Ph.D., who made the subject exciting,” High said. In addition to an M.B.A., in fact, he received a master’s in statistics under Dr. John’s supervision.

“I was very fortunate to get a job with a civil engineering firm as a data analyst, and that propelled my career in statistics.”

But although his career has proved professionally satisfying, High never gave up on music, either. He continued to play piano and organ and has served as a church pianist/organist for many years.

Two members of the Music as Medicine committee attend the church where he currently plays, and they approached High about joining the committee and, later, performing as part of the series.

High’s Thursday performance will include a variety of classical music — Bach, Mozart, Liszt — a piece in a more popular style, as well as two selections he calls “A Prayer for Peace.”

“With the events of the past week, it’s very relevant,” High said. The first in the sequence is “a setting of an English hymn tune” followed by “a wonderful piano work by Paul Halley, who was inspired on a trip to the Holy Land to compose a piece called ‘Prayer.'”

High’s performance is sponsored by the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute with support from UNMC’s Human Resources Department.