Who We Are

Joy Allen

Acting Director, Berklee Music and Health Institute; Chair, Music Therapy Department

Portrait of Joy Allen

Joy Allen, Ph.D., MT-BC, is an accomplished clinician, researcher, and educator with extensive experience in psychological health, pain management, and trauma-informed education and supervision. She has presented her work at several peer-reviewed conferences, including regional, national, and international music therapy and music- and health-related conferences. She is the editor of Guidelines for Music Therapy: Adult Medical Care and author of chapters on adult oncology, pain management, and medical music therapy. 

Allen routinely collaborates with educational, health care, and community leaders on the design and implementation of music and health-centered programs that incorporate music experiences to impact overall quality of life. This includes identifying health-related outcomes being addressed within these programs, as well as identifying the resources to ensure sustainability outside of structured individual and group experiences, whether this would be done through the process of trained community musicians, music therapists, and advocates or through technological advances.

Allen is the founding and acting director of the Berklee Music and Health Institute.


Julia Cuellar

Julia Cuellar

Project Manager, Berklee Music and Health Institute

Hailing from Mansfield, Massachusetts by way of Eugene, Oregon, Julia Cuellar has been a part of the Berklee ecosystem going on eight years and counting. A classically trained violinist, Cuellar holds a B.A. in comparative literature and Spanish from the University of Oregon, an M.S. in arts administration, a graduate certificate in fundraising management from Boston University, and is working towards her certification as a teacher for Music Together. She is also a small business owner who specializes in practice management for independent mental health providers. Coming from a family of medical professionals, she has melded her passions for the arts and mental health into one role supporting the groundbreaking work of the Music and Health Institute.