HEAL Volunteer Spotlight
Q: How has your experience with HEAL been?
A: My experience with HEAL has been about finding hope in America as a nation of immigrants. In the political climate of the last decade, American society has been skeptical or cynical about immigrants. Working with HEAL and its staff has helped me combat some of this cynicism by helping one person at a time find their footing in the US. I know that every asylum seeker has their story, and every story matters.
Q: How has volunteering with HEAL helped shape your career?
A: I am not quite sure yet how HEAL would shape my career as an MD-PhD in training. I'm hoping to incorporate humanitarian work in my career, but the exact form is not yet clear to me.
Jeong Jun “JJ” Kim
JJ Kim is an M.D.-Ph.D. student studying neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. A graduate of Harvard College, he is a first-generation Korean-American and started in HEAL Forensic Evaluation Clinic as a volunteer Korean interpreter. At HEAL’s Forensic Clinic, he serves as logistics lead, helping to coordinate evaluations and manage student assistants.
Q: Why did you choose to get involved with HEAL? What about HEAL’s mission resonates with you?
A: My involvement with HEAL started as a serendipity. I was asked to interpret for one of HEAL's first evaluations around Thanksgiving 2021, and the evaluation affected me greatly, especially as I am a first-generation Korean American. I found meaning in providing humanitarian relief to new immigrants, who would become first-generation Americans.