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March 04, 2009
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The 49-year-old chairman of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School will succeed James Wright, the 16th president of the college. Wright stepped down after leading Dartmouth for 11 years. Kim will take office on July 1, according to the college’s Board of Trustees. “Jim Yong Kim embodies the ideals of learning, innovation and service that lie at the heart of Dartmouth’s mission,” said Ed Haldeman, Chairman of Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees in announcing the appointment. “As a passionate educator and physician, he has had a profound impact on students, faculty, colleagues and fellow health professionals,” Haldeman added. “And as a leader in the field of global health, Jim has helped to transform efforts to bring health care to the world’s poor.” Kim said he was honored and humbled to accept the position. “Dartmouth is a unique and special place with a powerful sense of community,” he said. “The educational opportunities it offers, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, are exceptional. I could not be more excited about this opportunity.” Kim, whose Korean name is Kim Yong, was born in Seoul in 1959. When he was 5, his family moved to the United States and he grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Brown University in 1982. He earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1991 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University in 1993. Kim has spent over 20 years improving health in developing countries as a senior official at the World Health Organization and is a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Partners In Health, which provides care for patients of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases around the world. In recognition of his work, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. He received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 2003 and was named one of America’s 25 “Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report in 2005. In 2006, he was selected as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He is married to Youn-sook Lim, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Boston. They have two sons. By Nam Jeong-ho JoongAng Ilbo/ Kim Mi-ju Staff Reporter [mijukim@joongang.co.kr] |
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