Graduate Medical Education
Dr. Jennifer Di Rocco is the Pediatric Residency Program Director at JABSOM as well as Associate DIO, but she’s also a talented musician. What began as a “just for fun” idea has turned into a tradition that the JABSOM community looks forward to every year.
“I was sitting at graduation one year when I was an associate program director and they were introducing the grads and they play some music and show some nice pictures and it’s a nice remembrance of their time, but then I thought ‘what if instead of me just saying their names, what if i sang a little something to them?” Di Rocco said.
Passionate about medical education, Dr. Di Rocco has naturally taken on a proud and caring “Mama Bear” role as she oversees the residents that go through the program. Every year, she prepares a special performance for the graduating cohort, rewriting the lyrics to reflect personal messages of praise and joy on their milestone achievement.
Her first iteration in 2019 was her freestyle rapping onstage to the graduates. Since then, sheʻs tried to incorporate different elements, such as her playing different instruments or even having help from her daughter to write some of the lyrics or sing with her.
“So it’s like a family present to the graduates,” Di Rocco said. “Because music means so much to me, it’s this very personalized gift that I can give to our graduates and I always try to make things funny and highlight the individual strengths of the residents while I’m singing about them.”
Dr. Di Rocco grew up hearing family singing and playing the piano.
“I started taking piano lessons when I was eight and then playing in the band when I was in the sixth grade and my love for music just grew from there,” she said.
“In high school, I was studying with a professor at Michigan State University and I was at a crossroads where I was trying to decide if I wanted to become a professional musician or go into medicine,” Di Rocco says, ultimately choosing to become a physician.
“I had a heart to heart with myself and I realized that medicine was really what I wanted to do,” Di Rocco said, emphasizing that playing music and singing has been a wonderful outlet for stress management amongst the sometimes “bittersweet and very sad nature” of healthcare.
“I'm grateful to be able to practice when I can,” Di Rocco said.