It was Elvis Presley who started Diane Fredrikson on the instrument she credits
with helping her through medical school.
Inspired by her rock and roll hero, Fredrikson asked her parents for her first
guitar when she was eight years old.
Ten years later she won fourth place in an international classical guitar
competition held in Tokyo.
“Music adds balance for me,” says Fredrikson, who is graduating from the Faculty
of Medicine. “I need it in my life to keep me on an even keel.”
Helping others achieve a more balanced life is one of her reasons for specializing
in psychiatry.
A 1994 Wesbrook Scholar, she has received several scholarships for her research
into schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses. Her current study involves
using a statistical method to identify how symptoms of psychotic illnesses cluster
into clinical syndromes.
The results could help psychiatrists better understand what causes schizophrenia.
It could also reveal symptoms shared by various mental illnesses, leading to
a better understanding of them and more effective use of medications.
“Diane’s persistence and excitement are quite exceptional,” says her research
supervisor, Psychiatry Assoc. Prof. Dr. William Honer. “And it’s especially
important for psychiatrists to have diverse interests that can help them relate
to people.”
In addition to classical guitar, Fredrickson sings and plays steel string
guitar in a duo she formed in 1996 with her sister Carol, also a UBC student.
Their repertoire includes blues, country swing, popular music, bluegrass and
“some good old-fashioned fiddling,” Fredrikson says.
Fredrikson tries to keep her musical life separate from her academic career.
“When I’m performing, it’s a different persona out there,” she says. “I like
to keep it apart from my role as a physician.”
Fredrikson enters a psychiatric residency this summer. While she plans to
practise, she hopes to stay connected with a teaching hospital in order to have
access to research opportunities.
Music will always be in the picture, she says.
“It’s just a part of me — I can’t stop it.”
