Nicholas Zaborowski

Harmonious healer: Nicholas Zaborowski

School/College: Boyer College of Music and Dance
Degree/Year: BM, music therapy, 2021
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Current Job Title: Music therapist
Current Employer: St. Luke’s University Health Network

Have you ever wondered why we remember song lyrics? Nicholas Zaborowski, BYR ’21, knows the answer. Engaging with music activates all regions of the brain to amazing effect, he says, helping us remember information, enhance focus and even regulate mood.

Nicholas Zaborowski walking into St. Luke's with his guitar.

As a music therapist in the St. Luke’s health network near Allentown, Nick uses the power of music to help some of society’s most vulnerable people, including those in the inpatient behavioral health unit. In one-on-one or group settings, Nick plays an array of instruments, including guitar and piano, to provide music therapy interventions that support those in their transition back to daily life. It’s gratifying, he says, to see how music can help a patient remember their family members’ names or relearn a particular skill.

Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, Nick was a dedicated member of the Father Judge High School band. He was introduced to music therapy by a counselor at the school. After researching programs, he found Temple was not only nationally accredited for music therapy but also regarded as “one of the strongest undergraduate programs in the country,” and he enrolled as a commuter student.

“Engaging with music helps our speech, our bodies and our brains. That’s why students learn to sing the 50 states, and runners choose songs that have beats matching their gaits. Music therapists apply the same science in recovery and rehabilitation to support positive clinical outcomes.”

—Nick Zaborowski
Music therapist

On North Broad, Nick says he benefited from a well-designed curriculum that prepared music therapy majors to apply music interventions across a wide range of healthcare settings, from pediatrics to geriatrics. He also received practical experience, first in simulated professional environments at Temple and then in external internships during his junior and senior years.

During an internship at a senior care community in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Nick developed his own music therapy program that quickly became popular among residents. Inspired by the experience, he founded his own company, Sky Music Therapy, after graduation. Over the next three years, Nick built a client base by direct outreach to senior centers across the Delaware Valley, eventually hiring four employees. After accepting a full-time role at St. Luke’s in 2025, he is currently focused on supporting patient outcomes within a leading health network.