Junghoon Kim, PhD
Institute Scientist
Director, Clinical Neuroimaging Lab
Korman Suite 218
1200 W. Tabor Rd.
Philadelphia, PA 19141
Telephone: 215-456-6474
Fax: 215-456-5926
E-mail: kimj@einstein.edu

Since I was a young boy, the wonder about how the brain creates the incredible faculty of the human mind always captured my heart, leading me to a career in psychology. I started as a graduate student in a psychobiology lab at the Seoul National University, Korea, conducting cell-recording experiments in a cat’s brain. However, fascinated by the clinical vignettes of the breakdown of cognition reported by neuropsychologists and neurologists, I decided to pursue human neuropsychology in the United States. During my doctoral study at the University of Pennsylvania and post-doc training at the UCLA and Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI), I was fortunate to work with experts in both basic and clinical neurosciences. I was also able to gain first-hand experience on a number of research techniques including psychophysics, electro-and magneto-encephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging -  all of which turned out to be powerful tools for the investigation of neural mechanisms of cognitive impairments.

The fact that we do not yet know clearly the brain mechanisms behind higher cognition - such as, consciousness, selective attention, and executive function - is especially unfortunate to the individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions in which these very faculties are impaired. Whether the pathology is largely genetic (as in schizophrenia) or acquired (as in traumatic brain injury), dysfunction in the higher-order cognition devastates the lives of the affected individual and the family. Establishing valid neurocognitive models of these cognitive processes is an important first step towards efficient cognitive rehabilitation.

Since I joined the outstanding scientific staff at MRRI, my broad research goal has been set as applying the principles from basic cognitive neuroscience on attention and executive function to the assessment of the efficacy of pharmacological and behavioral interventions in the individuals with neurological conditions. More specifically, I have concentrated on the following topics:

Research Focus

• Neural correlates of attention deficits in TBI and treatment responses:
• Neuroimaging methods for rehabilitation research:

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Funding Sources

Dr. Kim has received funding for his research from the Albert Einstein Society and Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute.

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Selected Publications

Kim, J., Whyte, J., Wang, J., Rao, H., Tang, Z. K., & Detre, J. A. (2006). Continuous ASL perfusion fMRI investigation of higher cognition: Quantification of tonic CBF changes during sustained attention and working memory tasks. Neuroimage, 31: 376-385.

Ances, B. M., Roc, A. C., Wang, J., Korczykowski, M., Okawa, J., Stern, J., Kim, J., Wolf, R., Lawler, K., Kolson, D., & Detre, J. A. (2006). Caudate blood flow and volume are reduced in HIV+ neurocognitively impaired patients. Neurology, 66: 862-866.

Cannon, T. D., Glahn, D. C., Kim, J., Van Erp, T. G. M., Karlsgodt, K., Cohen, M. S., Nuechterlein, K., Bava, S. & Shirinyan, D. (2005). Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during maintenance and manipulation of information in working memory in patients with schizophrenia . Archives of General Psychiatry, 62: 1071-1080.

Kim, J., Whyte, J., Hart, T., Vaccaro, M. , Polansky, M., & Coslett, H. B. (2005). E xecutive function as a predictor of inattentive behavior after traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11 : 434-445.

Hart, T., Whyte, J., Kim, J., Vaccaro, M. (2005). Executive function and self-awareness of “real-world” behavior and attention deficits following traumatic brain injury. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 20: 333-347.

Kim, J., Glahn, D., Nuechterlein, K., & Cannon, T. (2004). Maintenance and manipulation of information in schizophrenia: Further evidence for impairment in the central executive component of working memory. Schizophrenia Research, 68: 173-187.

Glahn, D. C., Kim, J., Cohen, M. S., Poutanen, V.-P., Therman, S., Bava, S., Van Erp, T. G. M., Manninen, M., Huttanen, M., Lonnqvist, J., Standertskjold-Nordenstam, C. G., & Cannon, T. (2002). Maintenance and manipulation in spatial working memory: Dissociations in the prefrontal cortex. Neuroimage, 17: 201-213.

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