Carla Faith Bender Kim is a professor at the Department of Genetics at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and a Principal Investigator at the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also a Principal Faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, where she also serves as part of the Executive Committee.

Early life and education

Kim was born in

Fremont, Ohio Fremont is a city in and the county seat of Sandusky County, Ohio, United States, located along the banks of the Sandusky River. It is about 35 miles from Toledo and 25 miles from Sandusky. It is part of the Toledo metropolitan area. The populat ...

. Kim received her bachelor's degree from

Ohio Northern University Ohio Northern University (Ohio Northern or ONU) is a private United Methodist Church–affiliated university in Ada, Ohio. Founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871, ONU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It offers over 60 programs to ...

(1997) and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(2002). Kim completed her postdoctoral training in the Tyler Jacks Laboratory at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

(2006) with the support of the Jane Coffin Childs Research Fellowship. During her time in the Jacks Lab, Kim discovered the first stem cell population in the adult mouse lung, bronchioalveolar stem cells (BASCs).

Research

Working with genetically engineered mouse models that accurately represent human

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, Kim’s group was the first to identify

cancer stem cell Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are cancer cells (found within tumors or hematological cancers) that possess characteristics associated with normal stem cells, specifically the ability to give rise to all cell types found in a particular cancer sample. ...

populations in the two most frequent types of lung cancer in patients. Her lab’s knowledge in lung stem cells has revealed a new combination therapy approach for particular subsets of lung cancer patients. Most recently, Kim’s lab has developed a 3D lung organoid system that makes it possible to derive specialized lung cells from lung stem cells. Kim’s work has been recognized by a variety of organizations, she has received the Forbeck Scholar Award, V Scholar award, the Basil O’Connor Scholar award from the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...

, the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

’s Research Scholar award, and most recently the William Rippe Award for Distinguished Research in Lung Cancer from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation. Kim’s work and lab are supported by federal funding from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Carla Living people People from Fremont, Ohio Harvard Medical School faculty Ohio Northern University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American medical researchers Year of birth missing (living people)