Tufts Medical Students Bring Music to Chinatown with Support from Fund Honoring 50th Reunion

Boston’s Chinatown, home to Tufts School of Medicine, is not only the cultural heart of the city’s Asian community—it is also a living classroom for Tufts medical students like Alexis Perry and Rachel Chau. Dedicated to exploring the intersection of music and medicine, the duo co-founded the Tufts University Music and Medicine Collaborative, a group that partners with local organizations to offer performances for patients, senior citizens, and veterans.

The John Krolikowski, M.D., A68, M72 and Karen Reuter Krolikowski, M.D., M74 Fund, established in honor of Karen’s 50th reunion, enabled Alexis and Rachel to host a concert of Chinese folk tunes at Chinatown’s Golden Age Center earlier this year.

The event was part of Tufts’ Community Service Learning program, a collaboration between the School of Medicine and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Through this program, all medical students engage in roughly 50 hours of hands-on community engagement as collaborators, mentors, and educators.

Alexis and Rachel’s work in Chinatown shows how students grow as both physicians and citizens when they learn to care not only for illness, but for the whole person and the community around them.

This story was also featured in the Summer 2025 issue of One Tufts.