PhD
Assistant Professor
Location:
UNC Hospitals – Chapel Hill
Education and Training:
B.S., Mechanics, Hanyang University
M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University
Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University
Summary Statement:
Dr. Kim is a Research Assistance Professor in Neuro Image Research and Analysis Lab. His interest and expertise involve developing and applying new quantitative methods to magnetic resonance image and diffusion tensor image in neuroscience area, and the undergoing research projects include longitudinal analysis and high-dimensional correlated data. He has been working on several research projects investigating the intensity variations due to the degree of white matter myelination during early postnatal development. Specifically, his proposed spatial intensity growth maps (IGM) for T1 and T2 weighted images help to enhance the contrast among the brain tissues before/after 1-year of age. The generated cortical surfaces via this basic research for tissue segmentation can analyze and predict the longitudinal cortical thickness and surface area development differences in infant’s brain in the high- and low-risk autism spectrum disorder. And also, his research is characterized by quantification of local shape difference, referred to as the shape complexity index, between the observed distributions of local surface topology. It is the very novel measurement to be free of a reference smooth surface, such as the cerebral hull, which is used in conventional gyrification index calculation. He is continuing to build his research topic which aims to identify how, why and when structural development or alteration emerge, and how brain networks are configured and developed (i.e., structural or functional connectome dynamics) in the context of environmental and developmental factors such as age, genetics, and relationships with others, and also how this relates an individual’s clinical scores in fragile X, autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer.
