Inquiry with Purpose   

Healthy Her, Healthy World Capstone

One of my most rewarding academic experiences was independently researching and writing The Effect of Music Therapy on Pregnant Women, published in Scholarly Debut (Winter 2025/2026) and accepted by the Journal of Research High School (05/2026). I began with a question that brought together several of my interests: could music—a familiar, accessible, and non-pharmacological intervention—meaningfully support maternal health?

Through reviewing existing research, I explored music therapy’s potential effects on maternal anxiety, sleep, cardiovascular responses, and maternal–fetal bonding. I became especially interested in the biology behind these findings: how auditory stimuli may interact with autonomic regulation, neural pain pathways, stress responses, and emotional processing. Wanting to better understand these mechanisms, I also completed an introductory neurology summer mentorship with Dr. Daud Lodin of New York University, which gave me a stronger foundation for thinking about the connections between the nervous system, stress, and sensory experience.

What interested me most was not simply whether music “works,” but under what conditions it works, for whom, and through which mechanisms. I also began thinking about accessibility: in communities where maternal-care resources are limited, could low-cost and culturally adaptable interventions complement traditional care?

The project taught me to read scientific literature more critically, recognize limitations in existing evidence, and distinguish promising findings from conclusions that require further study. If I continue this research, I hope to move beyond literature analysis toward original data collection and statistical analysis—testing some of the questions that first drew me to the topic.