Mentors

Dr. Park is a professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School. His research group (http://compbio.hms.harvard.edu) specializes in computational and statistical analysis of large-scale DNA sequencing data to elucidate genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying disease processes. Originally trained in applied mathematics (B.A., Harvard; Ph.D., Caltech), he was introduced to molecular biology and genetics during his postdoctoral studies in biostatistics. His laboratory has developed numerous genome analysis algorithms used around the world and has made substantial contributions to NIH consortium projects such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), 4D Nucleome (4DN), and Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT). Dr. Park has also served as the director of the Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics Graduate Program at Harvard Medical School for the past 15 years; he is a Sloan Research Fellow, a Fellow of the International Society of Computational Biology, and a recipient of the Samsung Ho-Am Prize.

Dr. Yoon is Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, and Director of Stem Cell Biology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Yoon's research focus is cardiovascular regeneration with stem cells and bioengineering. Dr. Yoon published more than 100 papers in high profile journals including Nature Medicine, JCI, Circulation, Circulation Research, JACC, and ACS Nano. Dr. Yoon received many awards over the past decade. Dr. Yoon was a finalist in both AHA and ACC Young Investigator Awards. Dr. Yoon is Fellow of AHA, a chartered member of NIH study section, and a member of editorial boards of Circulation Research, Regenerative Medicine, PLOS One, and others. He also received several awards from Emory University including Faculty Excellence in 2014, Innovation of 2012 Award, and Outstanding Basic Research Citation Award in 2011. He was also elected as a prestigious member of American Society for Clinical Investigation as the first Korean medical school graduate.

Sunghoon Gee, PhD is a technology professional currently serving as Staff at Seagate Technology, a global leader in data storage solutions, Minneapolis, MN. Dr. Gee contributes to the advancement of cutting-edge technology and innovation in the recording media area. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Idaho, where he built a strong foundation in data storage and applied science and engineering. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for innovation, he plays a pivotal role in supporting Seagate’s mission to deliver world-class storage technologies. He has 30+ published journals and 3 patients. He also served as KSEA Membership Director 1 (MD1), Honors and Awards Committee (HAC), Scholarship Committee, KSEA Minnesota Chapter President (CP), and General Director at KSEA Midwest Regional Conference (MRC).

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn (Ph.D., Stanford University) is a Professor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia. She is the founding director of the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems (CACHE; https://www.ugavr.com) and most recently served as co-editor-in-chief of Media Psychology. She has spent nearly two decades investigating how immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, wearables, sensors, and AI embodied agents can transform traditional rules of communication and social interactions. Under Dr. Ahn's leadership, the CACHE center has gained global recognition as a research powerhouse and thought leader in human-computer and human-machine interactions, producing timely and critical knowledge on how virtual experiences in extended and blended realities shape the way that people think, feel, and behave. Her work has received over $12 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and published in numerous top-tier outlets in the fields of communication, health, and engineering.

Dr. Yeo holds the titles of G.P. "Bud" Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Endowed Professor, as well as Harris Saunders Jr. Endowed Professor, in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also the director of three centers: the NSF Sustainable Development of Medical Devices (NSF SUSMED), the Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Center (WISH Center), and the KIAT-Georgia Tech Semiconductor Electronics Center (K-GTSEC). Dr. Yeo's research focuses on understanding the fundamentals of soft materials, deformable mechanics, interfacial physics, manufacturing, and the integration of hard and soft materials for the development of biomedical systems. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and genome sciences from the University of Washington in Seattle and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With over 170 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Yeo has contributed to many prestigious journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Communications, and Science Advances. He is an IEEE Senior Member and has received numerous awards, including the Visiting Professorship from the Institute Jean Lamour at the Université de Lorraine in France, the Lucy G. Moses Lectureship Award at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the NIH Trailblazer Young Investigator Award, the IEEE Outstanding Engineer Award, the Emory School of Medicine Research Award, the Imlay Innovation Award, the American Heart Association Innovative Project Award, the Sensors Young Investigator Award, the Med-X Young Investigator Award, and the Outstanding Service Award from the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, as well as the Outstanding Yonsei Scholar Award. Dr. Yeo is also the founder of two startup companies: Huxley Medical, Inc. and WisMedical, Inc.

Yoon Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He earned a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University, an MS in Data Science from New York University, an MA in Statistics from Columbia University, and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Cornell University. His research is on natural language processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. His research has been recognized by an NSF CAREER award and an AI2050 Schmidt Sciences Early Career Fellowship.

Jina Lim is an internal medicine physician who specializes in providing care to hospitalized patients. After completing her undergraduate and medical studies at Cornell University and University of Washington respectively, she underwent residency training at Tufts Medical Center. She is currently delighted to be part of the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital as an attending physician and also Harvard Medical School as an instructor where she can focus on providing excellent clinical care, supervising trainees, and furthering her career as a hospitalist at a historical and world-class institution. Her interests include quality improvement and safety in healthcare to find opportunities to reduce error and provide consistently exceptional care in a complex setting with multidisciplinary systems.

Nahyun Mariah Kim, MD is a PGY-1 psychiatry resident at Mission Community Hospital in Los Angeles. Raised in California and a graduate of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, she brings a cross-cultural perspective to child and adolescent mental health, especially within Asian-American communities. While at UC Riverside School of Medicine she earned the Dean’s Research Innovation Award for a community-based ADHD outreach project and continues to mentor pre-med and medical students. Outside the hospital, Dr. Kim volunteers as a certified music therapist in underserved L.A. clinics and unwinds by powerlifting and exploring cafés with her poodle, Happy.

Katherine S. Cho, PhD is an assistant professor and chair of Higher Education at Loyola University Chicago. Grounded in her experiences as a scholar, educator, administrator, analyst, advocate, and organizer, Dr. Cho’s research agenda centers on the potential of colleges and universities to positively transform their campuses towards equity, while recognizing the reality that these institutions also maintain systems of oppression and manifest harm. Her work spans across campus activism, institutionalized racism, labor, humanizing academia, and flipping the narrative of “why are students ready for college” to “why aren’t colleges ready for students.” Dr. Cho received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles; an M.A. in Sociology and Education from Columbia University, Teachers College; and a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University.

Veronica JungYeon Kim is a software engineer with over a decade of experience across both large corporations and startups. She graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2011, having completed two years total of internships at companies such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Morgan Stanley, where she held roles ranging from embedded systems to web app development. She spent seven years at Oracle, taking on roles including systems firmware quality engineer, internal tools developer, and project lead. She then spent nearly four years at Weights & Biases as a backend and full stack engineer building tools for machine learning practitioners. Most recently, she worked at Nooks, a startup developing auto-dialer tools for sales reps. Currently, Veronica is working on building something of her own.

Dr. Yeunook Bae is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Illinois State University. His research bridges environmental engineering and public health, with a focus on drinking water safety and contaminant exposure. He began his career in the soil remediation and waste treatment industry in South Korea before pursuing graduate studies and transitioning to academia in the United States. His experience navigating interdisciplinary transitions and international academic life has shaped his passion for mentoring students and early-career researchers working across scientific boundaries.

Amy Jang, PharmD, is a pediatric clinical pharmacist at Boston Children's Hospital, specializing in emergency medicine. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 2020. In her current role, she works closely with emergency providers and nursing staff to care for critically ill pediatric patients, responding to medical emergency codes throughout the hospital and delivering bedside pharmaceutical care in the Emergency Department. Prior to her current position, Amy began her pharmacy career as a pediatric clinical pharmacist at Children’s Hospital of Savannah in Georgia. In addition to her work in the ED, she also provides care across various inpatient units during her staffing shifts, including the Intensive Care Units, Oncology, and General Pediatrics Units.

Mihyun Kim is a doctoral student in School Psychology at the University of Georgia. She has a strong interdisciplinary background in educational psychology, social psychology, and social network analysis. Her research centers on friendship networks of children. She also has provided mental health services to students, including psychoeducational assessment, counseling, intervention, and parent education. Drawing on six years of experience as an elementary school teacher in Korea, she is committed to supporting the school adjustment of immigrant students and their families within the community.