Visiting Scholars Program Awardee 2026 – Michaela Di Palmo, MT-BC

Posted On:  02-06-2026

Michaela Di Palmo, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist and Master of Healthcare Administration candidate with clinical and research expertise spanning oncology, palliative and hospice care, neurorehabilitation, burn care, and the NICU. Her work focuses on implementing music-based interventions to reduce pain, promote parasympathetic activation, and support coping in medically complex populations.

She is currently applying to PhD programs with the goal of becoming an independent researcher studying the neurobiological and psychophysiological mechanisms of music-evoked hypoalgesia.

Michaela’s Visiting Scholar training will take place in the PROMUS Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Lepping. Training activities include neuroimaging acquisition and preprocessing, analytical workflows for studying neural responses to music, and mechanistic research involving emotion, reward, arousal, and pain-related processes.

The primary measurable output will be the development of an NIH F31 or equivalent predoctoral fellowship application focused on music-based pain modulation in chronic and terminal illness populations

She is currently applying to PhD programs with the goal of becoming an independent researcher studying the neurobiological and psychophysiological mechanisms of music-evoked hypoalgesia.

Michaela’s Visiting Scholar training will take place in the PROMUS Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Lepping. Training activities include neuroimaging acquisition and preprocessing, analytical workflows for studying neural responses to music, and mechanistic research involving emotion, reward, arousal, and pain-related processes.

The primary measurable output will be the development of an NIH F31 or equivalent predoctoral fellowship application focused on music-based pain modulation in chronic and terminal illness populations