Dr. June-Yung Kim’s research aims to help individuals exposed to biologic and environmental risks in utero to lead healthy and resilient lives across the lifespan. Centering on individuals with prenatal exposure to drugs and family violence, her research focuses on examining how intergenerational and early risk and protective factors, particularly social determinants of health, operate in the development of substance use and co-occurring mental health problems.

Dr. Kim has been actively involved in federally funded studies as a research fellow and data manager/statistician, including a 21-year longitudinal birth-cohort study investigating the neurobehavioral developmental outcomes of prenatal cocaine/polydrug exposure (NIH/NIDA R01 DA07957). Building on her expertise in neurobehavioral teratology, she, as a principal investigator, is currently conducting a pilot study titled, Social Determinants of Indigenous Prenatal Drug Use: Trauma and Resilience, a sub-award funded through the Indigenous Trauma & Resilience Research Center by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH 1P20GM139759), in collaboration with the NIJII team.

Dr. June-Yung Kim, an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of North Dakota, holds a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. She earned her M.A. in Social Welfare (MSW equivalent) from Seoul National University, South Korea, and a B.A. from Handong Global University, South Korea, with a double major in Social Welfare and Counseling Psychology.