Background
Kim grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey the son of a single mother, and his first job was in 1974 at a Roy Rogers restaurant, where he earned money to pay for college.
Kim grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey the son of a single mother, and his first job was in 1974 at a Roy Rogers restaurant, where he earned money to pay for college.
Kim earned his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry at Cornell University in 1979 and trained as a Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry at Stanford University under the guidance of Robert Baldwin.
He was president of Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), 2003-2013 and is currently a Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford University. Kim is of Korean descent. While at Stanford, he was also a Medical Scientist Training Program Fellow.
Research Kim has a special interest in Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome research and designed compounds that stop membrane fusion by the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome virus, thereby preventing it from infecting cells, and has pioneered efforts to develop an Human Immunodeficiency Virus vaccine based on similar principles.
Kim joined the Company in 2001 as executive vice president, Research and Development. He was promoted to president in January 2003.
In this role Kim oversaw all of Merck"s drug and vaccine research and development activities. During his tenure, Merck gained approval of more than 20 new medicines and vaccines.
These include Januvia (the first DPP-4 inhibitor for type 2 diabetes), Gardasil (the first vaccine for prevention of cervical cancer), Isentress (the first Human Immunodeficiency Virus integrase inhibitor), Zostavax (the first vaccine for the prevention of shingles in adults), Rotateq (an oral vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus infection in infants), and Victrelis (the first hepatitis C protease inhibitor).
In 2013, he retired from Merck and was succeeded by Roger Perlmutter
His research and work in improving human health has earned Kim numerous awards and other recognition. Member, Board of Directors, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Member, Council, Cornell University
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Member, Institute of Medicine
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
Fellow, Biophysical Society
Member, Korean Academy of Science and Technology
Committee on Nominations, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation, Visiting Committee, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisory Council, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integative Genomics, Princeton University
HARC (Human Immunodeficiency Virus Accessory and Regulatory Complexes) Scientific Advisory Board, University of California, San Francisco.
National Academy of Sciences. American Academy of Arts and Sciences]
Later, Kim was a Whitehead Fellow at the Whitehead Institute before joining Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as a Professor of Biology and as a Member of the Whitehead Institute and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Kim also served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (National Institutes of Health) Advisory Committee to develop an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome vaccine.