Larry Vellani, director of corporate and foundation relations, composed, arranged and recorded the soundtrack for a short film produced by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a division of the National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The short film, “Women in History,” premiered at the ninth annual Spirit Lecture on Friday, March 26, at the NIEHS campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
This year’s Spirit Lecturer and Honoree was Linda S. Birnbaum, the director of the NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program.
“Women in History” was conceived and produced by Brad Collins, a chemist at the institute and chair of the agency’s Diversity Council.
Collins asked Vellani to compose a song-based, short subject soundtrack on the theme of the advancement of women in American society. Collins then chose public domain images to accompany the music and lyrics. The final musical, visual montage celebrates the contribution of women to the human spirit though artistic, athletic, political, scientific, social and spiritual engagement.
Vellani collaborated with fellow musician and Phi Beta Kappa member, Sherry Lea, a software developer with Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp), in composing the music and lyrics for the soundtrack. He also performed on guitar and vocals with the ensemble Mebanesville on the soundtrack recorded March 7 – 14 at Haw River Studio in Haw River, N.C. Vellani, Lea and the musicians donated their artistic services to the project.
The institute will soon provide streaming of the short film from its Web site and is making DVD copies available for use by educators and civic groups. The film is already available for viewing on YouTube. See link in upper right-hand corner of this page.
The lecture series seeks to underscore that “… (b)alance in one’s life is necessary to achieve greatness in any field, including science …. Our lives comprise many thing — science, community, volunteering and mentoring — and spirit is a component of all of these.”
The institute’s mission is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental exposures by conducting basic, applied and clinical research and providing educational resources that lead to an understanding of the effects and interactions of exposures, individual genetic susceptibility and time/age on individual and community human health.