Rate My Professor Seung Kim

Seung K. Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is the KM Mulberry Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology and the Department of Medicine (Endocrinology, Gerontology, and Metabolism) at Stanford University School of Medicine, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Pediatrics (Endocrinology). He joined the Stanford faculty in 1998. Dr. Kim earned an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University in 1985 and both his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University in 1992 through the Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed a Medical Oncology Fellowship at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 1994 to 1998, including time as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow at Harvard University from 1995 to 1998.

Dr. Kim’s laboratory investigates the cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms regulating pancreatic islet development, maturation, and function, with applications to diabetes and pancreatic diseases. His research employs genetic, developmental, immunological, physiological, and genomic approaches across model systems including mice, fruit flies, pigs, primates, primary human pancreatic cells, and human stem cells. Key contributions include discoveries of genes, signals, and cell interactions governing islet biology that support new strategies for islet generation, expansion, and replacement in diabetes, as well as immunological approaches for inducing allotolerance of transplanted islets. He has served as Director of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center since 2016 and Co-director of the Breakthrough T1D Northern California Center of Excellence at Stanford since 2019. Additional roles include prior leadership in the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program and co-direction of the Stanford Pancreas Cancer Research Group. Dr. Kim has received numerous honors, including election to the Association of American Physicians in 2021, the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine in 2014, the Gerald and Kayla Grodsky Basic Science Research Award from JDRF in 2013, and an Investigator position with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 2008 to 2016. He has also earned multiple teaching and mentoring awards from Stanford University School of Medicine.