NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Fall 2018

34 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE JunSik Kim, M.S., Ph.D., D.D.S., a practicing orthodontist in the Fresno, California, area, is a long way from home. More than 10,000 miles from where he grew up and his childhood family remains: Seoul, South Korea. He didn’t make the move in one leap; he had a layover at the NSU College of Dental Medicine. His quest for better education brought him here. Kim grew up in what he calls a megacity; Seoul is the world’s fourth-largest metropolitan economy, after Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles, with a popu- lation of more than 10 million. “During my elementary school to dental school journey in Seoul, I could see fast development of Seoul and Korea, which had held the Seoul Asian games in 1986, the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and the Seoul World Cup in 2002,” he said. His family remains in South Korea. “I have one brother who is a lieutenant colonel in the army and patrols the DMZ (demilitarized zone), which is the border between South and North Korea. I am very proud of my younger brother. He is a father of two sons and a good husband who is protecting South Korea from the communist regime of the North.” His brother also takes care of Kim’s parents, who remain in Seoul. THE CALL In 1999, Kim graduated from the dental school of Seoul National University, which he calls the best dental school in Korea. Kim spent three years after graduation as a public health dentist in a rural area. “I worked with a lot of underprivileged people, such as families with handicapped children, alcoholics, mental patients, and the homeless,” he remembered. That experience created in Kim a desire to help the needy and less fortunate. “In 2002, I opened my private practice in Seoul. When I started to see patients, I felt a deep responsibility to them. In other words, if I didn’t have ‘enough’ or the ‘best’ knowledge, I felt guilty,” Kim said. So, while he worked during the day, he continued studying nights and weekends, even after dental school graduation. “Through those nights, I earned a master’s degree, and then a Ph.D. Also, I attended many education courses and seminars dealing with all fields of dentistry, such as prosthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, implantology, esthetic dentistry, and orthodontics.” While he was exposed to all facets of dental care, “I was attracted to the logical thinking process of orthodontics. So, I decided to devote my life to the orthodontic specialty,” he said. THE JOURNEY By 2015, it was time to broaden his continuing education horizons. Kim noted that, since 2004, he had attended seminars in conventional orthodontics, lingual orthodontics, surgical orthodontics, speedy Always Learning Continuing Education Integral Part of Life BY SANDI DRAPER ALUMNI Impressions ALUMNI IMPRESSIONS JunSik Kim with Eric Pellkofer, vice president of orthodontics operations at Western Dental & Orthodontics