Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine

Medical Director, Cardiac Diagnostic Center

Director, Women's Heart Health Program

cardiac imaging, noninvasive cardiac testing, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, estrogen signaling, women's heart

1989-1993 Dean’s List, Brandeis University
1991-1992 Korean Scientist and Engineers Association Scholarship
1992-1993 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Award
1992 Top Ten Pre-Med Award
1993 Department Honors in Biochemistry
1993 Magna Cum Laude
1996-1997 Luis S. & Molly B. Wolk Foundation Fellowship Award
2000 Dean’s Award, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
2005 Vascular Biology Working Group Cardiovascular Fellowship Grant Award (relinquished in lieu of the American Heart Association Western Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellowship Award)
2005 American College of Cardiology ’06 Early Career Travel Award
2005-2007 American Heart Association Western Affiliate Postdoctoral
Fellowship Award
2007-2012 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award
(K08), National Heart Lung Blood Institute, NIH
2008 Fellow, American College of Cardiology
2012 Winner of UC Irvine School of Medicine Faculty Research Grant
competition
2015 Faculty of the Year, Cardiology UCIMC
2017 Physician of Excellence, Orange Coast Magazine
2017 Fellow, American Society of Echocardiography

My clinical research is focused on utilizing novel as well as current noninvasive cardiac testing modalities to assess complex and nuanced pathophysiology of heart disease and pave the way for advancing therapeutics for and our knowledge of cardiovascular diseases.

My basic science research focus is on studying the mechanisms of cardiomyocyte apoptosis and how estrogen protects the heart from ischemia-related injury that differentially affects men and women.

Luo T, Liu H, and Kim JK. Estrogen protects the female heart from ischemia/reperfusion injury through regulation of MnSOD phosphorylation by mitochondrial p38ß at threonine 79 and serine 106. PLoS One 2016 Dec 8;11(12):e0167761.

Luo T, Kim JK. The Role of Estrogen and Estrogen Receptors on Cardiomyocytes: An Overview. Can J Cardiol. 2016 Aug;32(8):1017-25. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2015.10.021. PMID: 26860777

Luo T, Kim JK, Chen B, Abdel-Latif A, Kitakaze M, and Yan L. Attenuation of ER Stress Prevents Post-infarction Induced Cardiac Rupture and Remodeling by Modulating Both Cardiac Apoptosis and Fibrosis. Chem Biol Interact. 2015 Jan 5;225:90-8. PMID: 25450231 PMCID: PMC4684183

Kim JK. Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2015, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. Sahni G [ed], Mosby, Elsevier, St. Louis, MO.

Kim JK. A Perspective on Cardiovascular Research: A Practitioner’s Responsibility to the Disseminated Outcomes, J Cardiol Clin Res 1:2, 2013.

Liu H, Yamandala M, Lee TC, Kim JK. Mitochondrial p38ß and Manganese Superoxide Dismutase Interaction Mediated by Estrogen in Cardiomyocytes. PLoS One. 2014 Jan 22;9(1):e85272

Groves EM, Kim JK. Biventricular Failure due to Stress Cardiomyopathy after Pericardiectomy for Constrictive Pericarditis. Case Rep Med., 2013;2013:106757. doi: 10.1155/2013/106757. Epub 2013 Nov 28.

Mohabar D, Kim JK, and Patel P. Unique Morphological Variations of Transient Mid-Ventricular Syndrome. Echocardiography Jul 2. [Epub ahead of print].2012

Hong GR, Park JS, Lee SH, Shin DG, Kim U, Choi JH, Abdelmalik R, Vera JA, Kim JK, Narula J, Vannan MA. Prognostic Value of Real Time Dobutamine Stress Myocardial Contrast Echocardiography in Patients with Chest Pain Syndrome. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. Suppl 1:103-12, Dec 27, 2011

Liu H, Pedram A, Kim JK. Estrogen Prevents Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis by Suppressing p38alpha-mediated p53 and by Downregulating p53 Inhibition on p38beta. Cardiovascular Research 2011 Jan 1;89(1):119-28. Epub 2010 Aug 19.

Pedram A, Razandi M, Kim JK, O’Mahony F, Lee EY, Luderer U, Levin ER. Developmental Phenotype of a Membrane Only Estrogen Receptor-alpha (MOER) Mouse. J Biol Chem 284(6): 3488-3495, 2009.

Hong G-T, Pedrizzetti G, Tonti G, Li P, Wei Z, Kim JK, Baweja A, Liu S, Chung N, Houle H, Narula N, Vannan MA. Characterization and Quantification of Vortex Flow in the Human Left Ventricle by Contrast Echocardiography Using Vector Particle Image Velocimetry. J Am Coll Cardiol Img 1:705-717, 2008.

Kim JK, Palaniappan C, Wu W, Fay PJ, and Bambara RA. Evidence for a unique mechanism of strand transfer from the TAR region of HIV-1. J Biol Chem 272:16769-77, 1997.

Palaniappan C., Kim JK, Wisniewski M, Fay PJ, and Bambara RA. Control of initiation of viral plus strand DNA synthesis by HIV reverse transcriptase. J Biol Chem 273:3808-16, 1998.

Kim JK, Palaniappan C, Chow S, Fay PJ, and Bambara RA. Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) viral protein R (Vpr) stimulates reverse transcription. Manuscript submitted.

Roda RH, Balakrishnan M, Kim JK, Roques BP, Fay PJ, Bambara RA. Strand transfer occurs in retroviruses by a pause-initiated two-step mechanism. J Biol Chem 277:46900-11, 2002.

Kim JK, Pedram A, Razandi M, and Levin ER. Estrogen protects cardiomyocyte apoptosis through inhibition of reactive oxygen species and differential regulation of p38 kinase isoforms. J Biol Chem 281:6760-7, 2006.

Kim JK and Levin, E.R. Estrogen signaling in the cardiovascular system. Nuclear Receptor Signaling, 2006;4:e013. Epub 2006 Jul 7

Pedram A, Razandi M, Sainson RC, Kim JK, Hughes CC, Levin ER A conserved mechanism for steroid receptor translocation to the plasma membrane. J Biol Chem. 2007 Aug 3;282(31):22278-88

2007-2012 K08 #HL089066-01 NHLBI/NIH; Principal Investigator; Direct Cost $112750/year

2012- 2013 UCI SOM Faculty Research Grant, UCI; Role – PI

2013-2018 R01 #HL111180 NHLBI/NIH; Principal Investigator; Direct cost $250,000 per yr

American Heart Association

American College of Cardiology

American Society of Echocardiography

The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5496

Last updated
10/12/2021