Jocelyn Kim , MD, PhD

Dr. Jocelyn Kim is a physician-scientist and Associate Professor at UCLA whose research focuses on viral pathogenesis, immune evasion, clonal persistence, and immune-based strategies to eliminate rare pathogenic cell populations. Her laboratory studies HIV reservoir biology using humanized mouse models, NK cell biology, CAR-NK immunotherapy, and molecular lineage-tracking platforms. These approaches are highly relevant to cancer biology, particularly virally associated malignancies and immune-evasive tumor populations. Dr. Kim's primary cancer-relevant interests are in viral oncology, cancer immunology, and cellular immunotherapy. She is interested in adapting their NK and CAR-NK platforms to target virally associated cancers, such as cervical cancer, where persistent viral antigen expression, immune escape, and cellular heterogeneity are central barriers to cure. In parallel, their barcoded-virus and integration-site sequencing tools provide a framework to study clonal persistence, immune selection, and emergence of resistant cell populations under therapeutic pressure. Dr. Kim's background positions her to contribute to collaborative studies focused on viral oncogenesis, immune surveillance, clonal dynamics, and immune-based cancer therapy.