Young Chan Kim

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

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

In 2021, he received an NIHR Oxford BRC grant for his postdoctoral research and was elected Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Wolfson College. That same year, he joined the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) as a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, leading projects on enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid) and Q fever.

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

After successfully securing three SBRI Innovate UK awards in 2023, he began leading a team of postdoctoral researchers, research assistants, and students working on vaccines against plague, Q fever, and alphaviruses, while also overseeing Paratyphoid and C. difficile human challenge studies with Prof Sir Andrew Pollard. In the same year, he was elected Research Fellow (RF) at Wolfson College. Since 2024, he has served as Deputy Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Paediatrics, before becoming Director of Graduate Studies in 2025, 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-Investigator on the Wellcome-funded “Correlates of Protection against Paratyphoid (COP-PT)” programme 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://www.ox.ac.uk/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. difficile 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

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
• Sidd Vishwakarma 

DPHIL STUDENTS

• Henderson Zhu (completed in 2024)
• Naina McCann (Current) 
• Margarete Paganotti Vicentine (Current)
• Hind Albalawi (Current)
• Steven Ji (Current)
• Oisin Hennigan (Current) 
  

MASTERS STUDENTS 

• George Eustace (completed in 2025) 
• Liusha Ma (completed in 2025)
• Daisy Anderton (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, Giulio Taggart, Husaam Iqbal (2025-2026)

CLINICAL TRAINEES: 

• Rachel Atherton (ACF; 2021-2022)
• Lily Wei, Rufaro Tom (Y5 Medical Students; Current)