Rate My Professor Jinah Kim

Jinah Kim is an Associate Professor in Music Therapy at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne. She earned her PhD in Music Therapy from Aalborg University, Denmark, in 2006 under the supervision of Professor Tony Wigram, an MA in Music Therapy from Anglia Ruskin University in 1996, a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Therapy, and a BA. Before relocating to Melbourne in July 2020, she was Associate Professor and Head of the Creative Arts Therapy Department at Jeonju University in South Korea for many years. She has extensive experience as a music therapist, on-site supervisor, lecturer, and researcher across the UK, Korea, Austria, and Australia.

Kim's research centers on improvisational music therapy for early interventions with young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as children and adolescents exposed to trauma, child maltreatment, and poverty. Her influential publications include 'Effects of Improvisational Music Therapy vs Enhanced Standard Care on Symptom Severity Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The TIME-A Randomized Clinical Trial' (JAMA Pediatrics, 2017), 'The Effects of Improvisational Music Therapy on Joint Attention Behaviors in Autistic Children: A Randomized Controlled Study' (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009), 'Tuning In and Sharing Affects: Fostering Social Motivation in Young Autistic Children in Improvisational Music Therapy – An Embedded Mixed-Methods Study' (2025), 'Effects of Community-Based Group Music Therapy for Children Exposed to Ongoing Child Maltreatment & Poverty in South Korea: A Block Randomized Controlled Trial' (2017), 'Music Listening for Children and Adolescents in Health Care Contexts: A Systematic Review' (2016), 'Psychodynamic Music Therapy' (2016), and 'Effects of Group Music Therapy on Social and Aggressive Behaviors in Deprived Children from Poor Families' (2016). She has also explored parent perspectives on telehealth versus in-person family-centred music therapy and experiences of online music therapy placements during COVID-19. Kim serves as Editor of the Australian Journal of Music Therapy and is on the Advisory Editorial Board of Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy. Her contributions advance evidence-based music therapy practices for neurodiverse and marginalized young populations.