Paul Colombo, Ph.D., was an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, the neuroscience program, and the aging studies program at Tulane University.
Given New Orleans’ unique and vibrant musical culture, members of the Colombo laboratory used musical training as a model system to study brain plasticity. The lab examined the effects of musical training on executive functions and on neural activity measured by electroencephalography (EEG). In another line of research, Colombo studied the effects of musical training on stress reactivity, assessed both behaviorally and biochemically. Most recently, findings from studies in young participants were used to develop and test music-related interventions aimed at preventing and mitigating age-related cognitive decline. The lab also investigated the impact of music-based mentoring on neural, cognitive, and social development. In collaboration with community partners such as The Roots of Music and Make Music NOLA, studies examined how music-based mentoring influenced executive functions, self-efficacy, and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying music training’s effects on behavior and cognition.
Colombo was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a former member of the Board of Directors of The Roots of Music, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Harmony Project National Division—a music-based mentoring program serving over 3,000 students across 15 sites in Los Angeles County and in eight cities nationwide. He received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Colombo earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
He currently holds the Louise and Leonard Riggio Professorship of Social Entrepreneurship from 2019 to 2025.