Music Therapy Researcher Joy Allen Joins Children’s Music Fund Board of Directors

A leading voice in music-and-health research joins CMF’s board as the organization opens a year of milestones on the way to its 25th anniversary.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Children’s Music Fund (CMF), the nation’s leading pediatrics-focused Music Therapy nonprofit, today announced that Joy Allen, PhD, MT-BC, has joined its Board of Directors. Allen is chair of the Music Therapy Department and founding and acting director of the Music and Health Institute at Berklee College of Music, where she co-founded the first open-access national research repository dedicated to music and health.

Allen’s appointment is one of the first milestones in a yearlong celebration CMF is launching in September 2026, a series of musical moments spanning new research, program milestones and the stories of CMF Kids themselves, building toward the organization’s 25th anniversary in 2027. Nearly one in three American children now lives with a chronic health condition, and Music Therapy has emerged as one of the most impactful interventions for easing both the physical and emotional toll of that reality, with no adverse effects reported across the current body of clinical research.

“Joy Allen has spent her career building the research base that proves what we’ve always believed: Music Therapy is not a comfort measure, it is clinical care,” said Raffi Tachdjian, MD, MPH, founder and president of Children’s Music Fund and associate professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Having her on our board doesn’t just add credibility to Children’s Music Fund, it adds momentum to an entire field. As we build toward our 25th anniversary, I want people to look back on this year and see it as the moment Music Therapy stopped being the exception in pediatric medicine and started becoming the standard.”

An internationally recognized leader in music and health with more than 25 years of experience, Allen has built her career advancing Music Therapy across healthcare, higher education and public health. She has developed and led clinical programs and partnerships and co-founded the Berklee Music and Health Institute Research Collection, a first-of-its-kind repository organizing decades of scientific research on music and health under a purpose-built taxonomy. Allen has contributed to the advancement of the profession through regional leadership and service on multiple national committees within the American Music Therapy Association and is a frequent invited presenter at national and international conferences. She is editor of Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice: Adult Medical Care and has authored book chapters on oncology and pain management.

“I have spent my career watching the evidence for Music Therapy grow faster than the systems built to deliver it. That gap is where children fall through the cracks,” said Allen. “Children’s Music Fund is helping close that gap, one funded session at a time. The next step isn’t simply generating more evidence that Music Therapy works—it’s understanding the outcomes that matter most for children and families and using that knowledge to strengthen care, expand access, and build programs that last. For a child facing a life-altering illness, Music Therapy can support comfort, coping, connection, and quality of life. Every child who could benefit from that care should have access to it, regardless of where they receive treatment.”

Allen joins a Board of Directors spanning medicine, academia and philanthropy, united around advancing Music Therapy as a standard of pediatric care nationwide.

Children’s Music Fund has delivered more than 15,000 fully funded Music Therapy sessions to children and families across the country. To support Children’s Music Fund and its national mission, visit theCMF.org.

About Children’s Music Fund

Children’s Music Fund provides Music Therapy to children with chronic conditions or life-altering illnesses, including cancer, blood disorders, lung, heart and kidney disease, autism, rare diseases and immune deficiencies, to help improve their quality of life. Engaging children in Music Therapy helps reduce pain, fear and anxiety, and provides a much-needed coping mechanism to improve mental well-being during medical treatment, hospitalization and throughout their lives. CMF connects eligible children and young adults to board-certified Music Therapists who provide personalized treatment plans at home and in hospitals, and conducts and sponsors research to advance the integration of music with medicine. Children’s Music Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and member of the American Music Therapy Association. We believe that Music Makes Us Better. Learn more at theCMF.org.

Racepoint Global
Children’s Music Fund
cmf@racepointglobal.com

Media gallery