Rate My Professor Hae Sun Kim

Hae Sun Kim, PhD, MT-BC, serves as Assistant Professor of Music Therapy in the School of Music at The University of Iowa, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Hailing from Seoul, South Korea, she earned her Bachelor of Music in music therapy from The University of Iowa in 2010, Master of Music in music therapy with an emphasis on neurologic music therapy from Colorado State University in 2014, and Doctor of Philosophy in music education with a music therapy emphasis from The University of Iowa in 2022. Her dissertation, "Online Simulation-Integrated Education for Hearing Loss in Older Adults: Applications in Music Therapy Education," addresses educational strategies for music therapists engaging with hearing loss populations. Fluent in Korean and English, Dr. Kim brings a multicultural perspective to her teaching and research.

Dr. Kim's academic interests encompass music therapy for individuals with sensory or communication disorders, hearing health and preservation for musicians, music perception and enjoyment among those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and innovative online simulation-based education for music therapy professionals and students. She co-directs the Music Perception Laboratory within the Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she previously served as head research assistant from 2019 to 2022 under Dr. Kate Gfeller. Her clinical experience includes delivering individual and group music therapy sessions to children and adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, adults with neurological disorders, and patients in end-of-life care across the United States and South Korea. Additionally, she provided adaptive piano, violin, and guitar lessons to children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders and taught music classes for elementary through high school students at an international school in Seoul. Dr. Kim also represents the Midwestern Region on the Judicial Review Board of the American Music Therapy Association.

Key publications include her 2024 article "Auditory-Motor Mapping Training With an Autistic Child from a Bilingual Family" in Music Therapy Perspectives, co-authorship of "Education and Training in the United States: A Guide for International Music Therapy Students" in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy (2024), and her 2014 master's thesis examining the effects of auditory-motor mapping training in Korean on speech output for children with autism.