Kim, Jim Yong

Kim, Jim Yong, 1959–, Korean-American physician, university administrator, and global health specialist, b. Seoul, grad. Brown (A.B., 1982), Harvard (M.D., 1991, Ph.D., 1993). He moved to Iowa with his family at the age of five. While still a Harvard student, he cofounded (1987) Partners in Health, a nonprofit health-care charity, and served as its executive director until 2003. Kim joined the World Health Organization in 2003 and was director (2004–5) of its HIV/AIDS division, working to provide antiretroviral medication to patients in developing countries. Kim also was associated (1993–2009) with Harvard Medical School as professor of medicine and human rights, working to improve health programs in poor nations worldwide, and headed (2002–9) several departments at Brigham and Women's Hospital. In 2009 he was appointed president of Dartmouth College, becoming the first Asian-American to head an Ivy League school. He became known for encouraging Dartmouth students to think globally and, specifically, organized help for Haiti after its disastrous earthquake. In 2012, Kim succeeded Robert Zoellick as head of the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Elected to a second term in 2017, he resigned to enter the private sector in early 2019.

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