Physician-Scientist Speaker Series: Young Jun Kim, MD, PhD
Ethel White and Jonathan Swift were just two of the many classic literary figures that Dr. Young J. Kim cited during his talk at the April 5th Physician-Scientist Speaker Series. And, from the looks on trainees’ faces, it was clear that the MSTP had much reading to do, and much to learn from Dr. Kim.
Thankfully, the goal of the Physician-Scientist Speaker Series (PSSS) is to do just that: to provide students with candid representations of life as a physician-scientist. This year, the series was organized by Katherine Konvinse (G3) and Aaron Lim (G2) — our MSTP American Physician-Scientists Association (APSA) representatives. In addition to a yearly spring PSSS (given by a Vanderbilt physician-scientist), the APSA representatives organize an annual autumn Flexner Discovery Lecture (given by an outside physician-scientist). Past PSSS speakers have included Drs. Katherine Hartmann, William Pao, and Kimryn Rathmell (to name a few).
This year’s speaker, Dr. Young J. Kim, MD, PhD, gave a talk to the MSTP on April 5th during dinner at Cabana. Dr. Kim is a surgeon scientist: an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and the Barry and Amy Baker Chair in Laryngeal, Head and Neck Research. He spends one day in the operating room each week and invests the rest of his time leading a cancer immunology laboratory. His research focuses on immune-oncology; specifically, on the STING pathway, neoantigen development, and other targetable immune checkpoint inhibitors/co-activators such as NKG2xs, KIRs, and TIGIT.
During his talk, Dr. Kim detailed his career path from his undergraduate education at Princeton University, through his MSTP at UCSD, and all the way to his current position at Vanderbilt. He shared pearls learned along the way, such as the importance of mentors and the ability to focus on one’s ultimate goal. He specifically cited the importance of Owen Witte, a mentor during his otolaryngology residency at UCLA, in helping focus his research career. With regards to this focus, a common theme running through Dr. Kim’s talk was the importance of being uncomfortable wearing multiple hats (as a physician-scientist) and the related ability to focus on one’s “true” goal through all the noise. In times of uncertainty, Dr. Kim recommends taking a step back and reminding oneself about their true goal. In his case, when the clinic, administration, or other miscellaneous identity tries to pull him in multiple directions, he reminds himself that his goal is “to cure cancer.”
Dr. Kim’s casual talk was a great opportunity for students to learn about the atypical path of a surgeon scientist and to ask candid questions. While Dr. Kim’s knowledge of arcane classics of English literature may have stumped the MSTP, trainees’ tough questions equally left Dr. Kim equally at a loss. He promised to circle back to these tricky questions and could do nothing but smile at the end of his talk. His parting words: “Have fun; isn’t that the point?”