Kim Ho Youn

I received my M.D. in 1972 at the Catholic University Medical College and continued on to my internship and residency in internal medicine at the Catholic Medical Center. I received my Ph.D. in 1983 at the Catholic University Medical College and on completion, I resided as a research fellow in Rhematology at the University of Tennesessee between 1983 and 1984. Since 1980 I have been a faculty of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Catholic University Medical College and I became a professor of the division of Rheumatology in 1994. Between 2001 and 2003, I was the Chairman of Internal Medicine at the Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital. In 2002, through a prestigious fund granted by the Korean government, the Rheumatism Research Center was established and I was able to assume Director of this center. Since 2009, I am the Head Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Catholic University Medical College.

My committee responsibilities include the presidency of the Korean Society of Immunology(1999-2000), the presidency of the Korean Rheumatism Association(2005-2006), the invited Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Korean Rheumatism Association(2006-2008), and since 2008, the presidency of the Asian Pacific League of Association for Rheumatology (APLAR).

Currently my major research interests consist of germinal centers and B cell biology, the role of Th17/Treg in rheumatic diseases, the mechanism of joint destruction in the field of osteoimmunology, clinical trials in RA and SLE, and synoviocyte biology.

I have published approximately 300 basic and clinical research articles in domestic and internal journals including Arthritis and Rheumatism and The Journal of Immunology.