At the early age of 5, Abinaya started her first violin lessons and with the help of supportive parents and great teachers, she developed a strong passion for music. As she got older and more invested in the music community, she couldn’t help but notice that many of her peers had a hard time continuing music because of the high cost associated with private music lessons in the area. Seeking to create a more diverse musical community, Abinaya started The Muzic Academy, a nonprofit aimed to provide low-income students with low-cost music lessons. With the help of orchestra members, mentors, and music teachers, Abinaya was able to help numerous aspiring musicians receive high-quality music lessons from their high-school peers.  

After coming to Vanderbilt, Abinaya sought ways to translate her service experiences to improve mental health education in the Nashville community. Volunteering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Abinaya sought to educate adolescents about mental health. After gaining the trust and respect of the organization, she was able to launch and run the Ending the Silence program, a mental health educational initiative, in Nashville. Through the Ending the Silence Program, Abinaya has given over 30 presentations to over 3,000 high school students about the importance of mental health, hoping to end the stigma. Abinaya also sits on the Young Adult Leadership Council under the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and recently won the statewide NAMI Service award for her efforts running the Ending the Silence Program.  

For her summer service project, Abinaya completed a 9-week summer service project remotely working with the Division of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. During this time, she helped create a mental health apps database (https://apps.digitalpsych.org/) and analyzed mental health apps for different conditions such as bipolar, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Due to the surge of new COVID apps during her summer project, she also studied this app space and helped conduct a nationwide webinar with NAMI to discuss the use of mental health apps during a pandemic. Working on a summer project in the technology space gave Abinaya a different perspective to mental health treatment, support, and education, which she has since brought back to her work in Nashville.  

While the COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges, Abinaya remained steadfast in her commitment to providing mental health support. She volunteered for Crisis Text Line as a Crisis Counselor and also conducted her honors thesis in Medicine, Health, and Society, analyzing access to mental health and substance use treatment for LGBTQ+ and criminal-justice-involved individuals. As Abinaya enters her final year in the Ingram Scholars Program, she looks forward to further exploring mental health disparities and working with community partners to improve mental health equity in Nashville.  

Abinaya is deeply grateful for the Ingram Scholars Program, the life-altering opportunities it provides, and the supportive community it fosters.