"I truly believe that nothing is impossible if we have passion based on collaboration."
Innovator and avid problem solver, Kim combined his passion for medicine and engineering, integrating the two during his academic career. He started studying at medical school in Ulsan. However, after three years and 92 credits, it became clear to him that medicine was not his path. As an inventor and engineer at heart, Kim transitioned to studying electrical engineering in Seoul, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Seoul National University.
He earned his Master of Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, uniting his medical knowledge with electrical and computer engineering studies.
“I focused on the electrical properties of biofilms, specifically charge distribution. Since biofilms contain a number of electrical polarized molecules and ions, I had the idea to apply an electromagnetic wave to disturb their biological metabolic reaction and structure.”—YoungWook Kim, Ph.D.
During his years of doctoral research at the University of Maryland, sponsored in part by The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and the National Science Foundation Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (NSF-EFRI), Kim developed a new technology that harnesses the power of microcurrent electromagnetic waves to remove biofilms.
After successfully defending his thesis and earning his Ph.D. in 2014, Kim returned to South Korea to work for SAMSUNG Electro-Mechanics Co. Within less than three years of working as a Senior Engineer of the Element Technology Development Group, he published 14 Korean patents and 31 Technical Papers for SAMSUNG Electro-Mechanics.
From 2017 to 2019, Kim gained expertise as Director of Equipment Development at SEEGENE, Inc., developing several new products and winning the SEEGENE Achievement Award for creating technology for molecular diagnostic equipment.
