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Eunha Kim
Seven years ago, Eunha Kim left her native South Korea for the United States, with nothing but two suitcases. She also left her family and friends behind.
"Before I left, there was a lot of pressure on me to get married and work in a factory with my mother and sister," said Kim.
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Eunha Kim
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Photo: Mark Harmel
A high-resolution photograph is available on request.
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But the determined young woman wanted to continue her education in a place with more opportunities for women. Despite not knowing a soul, she headed for San Francisco and spent two years learning English while successfully navigating the baffling process of American college admissions. Kim thought at first that she would study business, but found herself drawn toward the sciences. By 2003, she was studying molecular, cell, and developmental biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She graduated in 2006 with highest honors, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees.
Hands-on laboratory work with an undergraduate research consortium led by Utpal Banerjee, an HHMI professor, got her "hooked," said Kim, and research became her passion. During the summer of 2005, she had a chance to hone her skills through HHMI's Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP), which offers research experiences for disadvantaged and minority undergraduates. Kim worked in HHMI professor Graham Walker's biology lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying DinB, a DNA-copying enzyme that is particularly adept at bypassing damage on the DNA strand it is using as a template. Kim investigated the effects of alternative forms of the DinB gene, and worked to physically link DinB to DNA so she could study the structure of the DNA-protein complex.
"She easily handled a flood of new experimental techniques," Walker recalled, "even though she was getting up at 2 a.m. to study for the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). By the time we saw her in the lab, she'd already been up and working for six hours."
Kim thinks she can make a difference by combining molecular research with the practice of medicine. Her experience so far has helped her realize the vast number of medical questions that remain unanswered. She knows firsthand how human suffering can result from enigmatic health conditions since Kim herself suffers from fibromyalgia, a disorder that causes chronic muscle pain and fatigue. Eventually, she would like to run her own lab, where she sees herself "working on possible causes and therapeutic treatments for diseases."
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