Lori Angelloz
When Mary Maldarelli, MD, was 14, she fell in love.
But unlike up-and-down teenage romances that often end as quickly as they begin, Maldarelli’s passion lasted. In fact, the object of her affection continues to impact her life and career.
The conduit for that transformative experience?
The pipe organ.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) 2019 graduate explained, “I had a piano teacher who was also an organist, and she got me into a camp called Pipe Organ Encounters. It’s where piano students can get to know the organ for the first time.”
Her interest in the instrument wasn’t entirely new. She wanted to try the organ after a visit to the National Cathedral at age 8, when an organist played and Maldarelli felt the floor shake.
But it was during that camp that, as she explained, “It stuck. It stuck really hard, because suddenly, I had an instrument that let me do anything I wanted, as loud as I wanted. When you’re 14, that is the greatest thing.”
Today, Maldarelli is a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellow at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) — and because her affection for the pipe organ truly “stuck,” she continues to perform. As an organist, she plays at Westminster Hall, a historic church on the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) campus just a few blocks away from UMMC, including at UMB’s Founders Week Staff Luncheon in October. She also plays piano in the central atrium of the medical center.
Driven to Pursue Medicine
That juxtaposition of music performance with a medical career might seem unique to some, but Maldarelli said she knew as a teenager that she wanted to pursue both subjects in college.
“Infectious disease was my first love,” she said when discussing how her interest in medicine began. “I was always driven to be a doctor because I wanted to help people and because I love science.”
She said a plague exhibit at a museum was formative, as was the time she found her father’s copy of “Principles and Practices of Infectious Disease.” Maldarelli remembers sitting on the floor of her home and devouring the textbook’s coverage of pathogens and their impact on different systems of the body. After she became interested in hemorrhagic fevers, Maldarelli’s mother suggested reading “Demon in the Freezer,” a bestseller about smallpox, saying it would be educational from a public health perspective.
Maldarelli’s parents were on hand with guidance when she decided to pursue both music and science.
“My dad has an MD and PhD, and my mom has a PhD, so they both knew how to get through all the training I would need,” she said, adding that her parents fully supported her effort to pursue both passions. “We knew it was going to be hard, but we designed a career plan — go to med school, go to music school — with the mindset of ‘we’ll make all those things work.’ ”
True to that plan, Maldarelli attended Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in earth and planetary science while also studying organ at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute. She went on to gain a master’s in music at Catholic University of America before attending UMSOM.
She says her career path as a physician has been shaped in part by her experience as a musician.
“Music teaches you to listen and be sensitive to nuance. You have to know yourself well, and you have to be able to read the emotions of the people in your ensemble and move with them without speaking,” said Maldarelli who recounted an encounter as a medical student that connected to those skills. “I was in a discussion about leading a family meeting, and I talked about waiting a beat — giving difficult moments time to settle, letting somebody else talk, giving people time to grieve and adjust to a new reality. It’s the same thing as adjusting to a new key signature and being able to read other people in your ensemble.”
A mentor observed her skill in approaching that kind of sensitive situation and encouraged her to explore critical care. The suggestion was serendipitous, as Maldarelli recalled, “The next day, I started on Shock Trauma ICU, and I thought, ‘Oh, I love this. This is problem solving. This is wonderful.’ ”
‘An Act of Humanity’ During Pandemic
Though most of her time is spent in the medical field — in addition to her time at UMMC, she conducts big data research at the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) in Bethesda alongside UM-IHC Co-Director Bradley Maron, MD, who also is senior associate dean for precision medicine at UMSOM — music continues to be a significant part of Maldarelli’s life, as seen in her performances at Westminster Hall and in the hospital atrium. Her thoughtful approach to others is experienced in those spaces as well, as attested by Jessica Williams, director of events at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and the Westminster Trust.
Williams organizes special events at Westminster Hall that include organ performances and said her firsthand experience working with the physician and music clients has left her deeply impressed.
“Mary makes everyone feel relaxed and comfortable,” Williams said. “Mary is intentional — she talks with our clients, listens to their desires. She makes their dreams come true, playing anything the clients request, from classical to ‘The Addams Family’ theme song for an October wedding.”
Maldarelli, who began piano performances in the central atrium of the medical center during the COVID-19 pandemic, said of that experience, “I realized I was probably the only live music anybody was going to get, because I’m a doctor who was allowed to come into the hospital — and there was a piano, so I could play there. Those things did not exist for most musicians during the pandemic, and I felt like I had an obligation to keep going. It was like an act of resistance, an act of humanity.”
She said she continues to play in the atrium, often during night shifts, and noted that everyone from patients and their families to doctors will sit and listen.
“Music is art within time, and sometimes people just need time and space and the knowledge that they’re in a safe space. That’s a lot of what music is,” said Maldarelli, who added that her interaction with patients is an extension of her music philosophy. “Every voice is important. The mom’s voice matters, the patient’s voice matters, their son’s voice matters. Everybody’s voice matters in that conversation.”
