Dr. Victoria Policastro Vega, Music Therapist – Board Certified, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – Music Therapist, and Hospice/Palliative Care – Music Therapist (HPMT), has enjoyed 44 years as an accomplished music therapy clinician, educator and researcher. She received her bachelor’s degree in music education from West Virginia University and her master’s in music therapy from Loyola University New Orleans. She completed her PhD in music therapy from Temple University under the mentorship of Dr. Kenneth Bruscia. At Loyola University since 2000, she has served as the Coordinator of the Music Therapy, Division Coordinator of Music Therapy and Music Education, Director of the School of Music and Associate Dean of the College of Music and Media. Currently, Dr. Vega is the Charles E. Braswell Distinguished Endowed Professor in Music Therapy. She feels that education and clinical training are the backbone of the music therapy profession. Dr. Vega has spent her music therapy career dedicating herself to supporting developing music therapists in the clinic arena. 

Dr. Vega’s research interests include music therapy with neurological disorders, professional burnout and personality, and trauma informed care. She has published research in the peer-reviewed journals of: Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Music and Medicine, International Society for Music Education and the Arts in Psychotherapy. Dr. Vega has also served the Arts in Music Psychotherapy and Voices: A World Forum for Music therapy as a manuscript reviewer. Book chapters include Prominent Music Therapists: Vega Biography and Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults in; Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice in Adult Medical Care. Dr. Vega’s dissertation entitled, Personality, Burnout, and Longevity Among Professional Music Therapists is published in Dissertation Abstracts.

Dr. Vega has held numerous AMTA and University leadership positions during her 44 years tenure as a music therapist. On the University level, she has chaired both the Associate Dean’s Council that has the main purpose of curriculum enforcement and the Conciliation Committee who has the purpose of remediating issues between faculty and students. She was an active participant on the Academic Affairs, Quality Enhancement Planning, Service Learning, Honors Advisory Board, Graduate Council Committees and the Standing Council for Academic Programs that all have curriculum responsibilities.  In these capacities, she supported new courses and degree program proposals, ensuring that these proposals met all accreditation and certification standards. In addition, she has advocated for resources to support new degree programs. She served on the Faculty Advisory Council and on the Online Education Task Force. Currently, she serves as the Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate and the CMM Rank, Tenure and Curriculum and Women’s Resource Committees.

Dr. Vega’s leadership positions do not stop with her activities at Loyola University New Orleans. She has been extremely active in the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). She has served on the AMTA Association’s Assembly of Delegates for three decades, and has participated on the AMTA Executive Board both as an Assembly Delegate Representative and also as a Council Coordinator of Professional Practices. She has also served as Chair of the Judicial Review Board and as Co-chair of the Continuing Education Committee. In addition, she served for over a decade on both the Education and Internship Committees and was a Presidential appointee to the nine-member Education and Training Advisory Board. Dr. Vega served as a Presidential appointee to the Certification Review Task Force, and made suggestions for changes to the AMTA Professional and Advanced Professional Competencies which will impact the next generation of music therapists. On the regional level, she has served as Vice President and President positions for two terms each. Finally, Dr. Vega is the current AMTA Education Consultant. In this role she communicates with the music therapy educators across the nation about curriculum Standards and approval processes.