Dr. Thaut received his Master’s and PhD in Music from Michigan State University, with a cognate minor in movement science. He holds a special diploma in music from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg/Austria and a German Diplom in Psychology/Education from the University of Muenster. Prior to his appointment at the University of Toronto, he was a Professor of Music and Professor of Neuroscience as well as Director of the Center for Biomedical Research in Music at Colorado State University where he also served as Director of the School of the Arts from 2001-2009. He has held many visiting professoral positions internationally including at the University of Michigan Dept. of Movement Science, Düsseldorf University Medical School, National Institute for Neuroscience Research IRCCS Santa Lucia/Rome, Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences, and Kurashiki Sakuyo Music University in Japan to name a few.

Dr. Thaut is an international leader in the basic and clinical auditory and music neuroscience and has internationally recognized pathbreaking research  for music and rhythm base interventions in brain rehabilitation. He has over 300 scientific publications and is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, senior editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music and the Brain and the Oxford Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy which was second in the annual British Medical Association book award in the category “Best New Book in Neurology 2015”.  He is President Emeritus of the International Society for Clinical Neuromusicology, Vice President of the International Society for Music and Medicine, Presidium Member of the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation, an Overseas Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine/ UK, and Board Co-Chair of the International Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy.  

His research team in collaboration with medical science and clinician groups worldwide developed the field of Neurological Music Therapy, which is a medically recognized  evidence based system of music-rhythm based interventions in motor, speech/language, and cognitive rehabilitation applied to a broad range of neurologic disorders, practiced by certified clinicians in over 70 countries worldwide, and endorsed by the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation. 

As a former professional violinist in the classic and folk genre, Dr. Thaut has recorded several LPs/CDs and has toured extensively throughout Europe and the US.  

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