Chair of WFMT Global Crises Intervention Commission
Indra Selvarajah is the founding president of the Malaysian Music Therapy Association (MMTA) and first PhD qualified music therapist in Malaysia. She earned her doctorate in medical music therapy from Florida State University (FSU) as a government sponsored scholar, and currently serves at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). As a passionate advocate for music, health & well-being, Dr. Indra helmed the organizing of Music Heals: From Tradition to Medical Innovation (2019) conference, commissioned by the Malaysian Society for Music in Medicine (MSMM), which brought together medical music therapy and music in medicine. She currently serves on the committee for the MSMM, and the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) under the Research & Ethics Commission. As a lecturer, clinician and researcher at UPM, Dr. Indra has initiated and trained students for more than 20 community outreach activities working with a range of NGOs and societies, harnessing the benefits of music therapy to serve the most vulnerable members of the community, from special needs children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Dyslexia, to older adults with Parkinson’s Disease & Dementia. Following the invitation of Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital (CRH), South East Asia’s foremost rehabilitation specialist hospital in 2017, Dr. Indra set up the first medical music therapy program for stroke and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation at CRH (expanding) and has since been invited to set up more medical music therapy programs in numerous government hospitals in Malaysia.
