Claudius Conrad
Associate Dean for Research and Innovation
Director of Translational Research at the Cancer Center at Illinois
Born in Bavaria, Germany
Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Dr. Claudius Conrad never stops. He never stops innovating, he never stops serving others, and he’s never stopped learning. He has worked in some of the most taxing professions, and yet he continues to seek out the things that challenge him most.
Forty-some years ago, nestled in rural Bavaria, Germany, young, talented Claudius Conrad could usually be found in two places: in the forest or at the piano. From the age of four, it was clear he was a gifted pianist. He spent hours practicing each day, mastering the nimbleness needed to fill his home with beautiful melodies while drawing inspiration from the natural world around him. “Being in this secluded environment in a forest, I fell in love with music, and I heard a lot of the sounds of the forest and the fields reflected in musical compositions. I was really drawn to them,” Conrad recalled.
When he was not playing or practicing, he enjoyed spending time with his father, the senior Dr. Conrad, who started his career as a veterinarian and then later trained as a medical doctor specializing in nephrology. The junior Conrad would travel through the countryside with his father. He chuckled and said, “In my childhood, we would go around and take care of the grandma, the horse, the grandpa, the dog. It really was total medicine.”
Conrad learned a lot from his father, and soon the young musician developed a love for medicine. He was able to see how a career in medicine could serve others–a through line that would emerge in his life.
As time passed, Conrad grew more proficient at the piano while also showing a growing brilliance in understanding the science behind the medicine he was seeing his father practice. He started to lay the groundwork for what would become a momentous career. Conrad attended renowned music schools and even traveled to the United States to study music. Not only was he evolving his musical talents, but he was also developing the fine motor skills that would cement his surgical career.
When Conrad started medical school, it was grueling. At times it overwhelmed him, but persistence is something Conrad prides himself on. The more he learned about medicine the more he saw the parallels between his two loves. What he calls “thinking with his fingers” was imperative in both surgery and music. “In hindsight, I’m so lucky and glad that I was able to push through and persevere through the stresses of studying both fields because it really has enhanced my career and my ability to help patients.”
Conrad racked up an impressive resume. He attended the University of Munich where he earned an MD, then an additional two PhDs, one in musical science and another in surgery. He studied at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and Harvard Medical School, interned at Massachusetts General Hospital, and earned fellowships at Institut Mutualiste Montsouris in Paris and the University of Tokyo. He ended up specializing in minimally invasive liver and pancreas surgery. While his pursuit of mastery took him around the world, he began to understand how his musical background could do more than just bring joy to his audience; he could also use it as an innovative way to enhance patient lives and outcomes.
During his residency, the now Conrad co-founded what became the Music in Medicine Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his research, Conrad demonstrated that music could, in fact, lower stress hormones and increase growth hormones. The patients in his progressive study needed less sedation during surgery. He has also gone on to study how music positively impacts surgeons during surgery, how it can relieve stress for cancer patients, promote sleep in hospitals, and even can help with team building for NASA astronauts.
While Conrad’s tireless pursuit of healing his patients prevails, he also keeps his own wellness and the wellness of his teams at the forefront. He understands the taxing nature of surgery, but his musical career has allowed him to understand how to balance the mental gymnastics, stress, and performance anxiety that come with life-saving surgeries. From his vantage point, musicians are better at strategically managing those skills, and he works to impart that knowledge on his teams.
“I think we often confuse wellness with being passive and doing nothing,” Conrad said. “But we have to be strategic. I think the wellness aspect starts before my surgery. Before every surgery, we do a breathing exercise together as a team for mental awareness to zoom in on the best possible outcome for our patients, to unify the team, but also to manage the anxiety and stress around the complex cases we are undertaking.”
To have the career he has, one that has taken him around the world and in some of the most demanding circumstances, keeping wellness as a central focus allows Conrad to keep serving others.
He was attracted to the middle of rural Illinois because of the unique engineering focus of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. He believes this unprecedented paring best prepares doctors for the future of medicine. Here, he feels he can continue his life of service by saving lives and transforming the next generation of doctors.
So, what does someone with such a demanding career do to wind down? Why not some of the most intense sports in the world, like ice climbing or ski mountaineering.
While there are no frozen rockfaces to climb in the cornfields of Champaign County, Conrad is just as happy here as anywhere he’s been. To unwind, he takes long bike rides or runs endurance, centering himself in nature and harkening back to all those years ago when he was just Claudius Conrad, a boy in the forest.
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We wanted to get to know Dr. Conrad a little better, so we’ve asked him to answer an abbreviated version of the Proust Questionnaire for STORIED. Once a popular Victorian parlor game made famous by Marcel Proust, the Proust Questionnaire has been used by reporters over the century and across the globe to reveal a side of leaders, artists, actors, and public figures we may not usually see. You might recognize the format from the back page of Vanity Fair, which has had celebrities answer the questions since 1993.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
My wife is happy.
What is your idea of misery?
My wife is not happy.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Clairvoyance.
What is the quality you admire most in a person?
Hearing the music when others can’t.
Who are your heroes in real life?
My kids.
Who are your heroes throughout history?
Pioneers whose ideas were, as Arthur Shopenhauer said, first ridiculed, then violently opposed, then accepted as self-evident.
What is your most treasured possession?
My memories.
What is your motto?
LFG.
What motivates you?
Today me > Yesterday me.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Is there wind?” (for kitesurfing)
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
It hasn’t happened yet.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?
My son’s father.
Who is your favorite musician? Writer? Artist?
Chopin between 1831-1846; Murakami; my wife.
Where is your favorite spot in the world?
Somewhere with soaring mountains, whispering trees, and crashing waves.
