It is with great sadness that we inform members of the Pacific Basin Consortium for Environment and Health of the recent unexpected passing of Board of Directors Member, KW Kim.

Kyoung-Woong Kim received his Ph.D. from the Imperial College London in the U.K. He was a Professor of Environmental Geochemistry at School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering from 1997 and was Dean of International and Public Affairs at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in Republic of Korea. His research interests included environmental monitoring and risk assessment, and the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater.

Professor Kim joined the PBC Board of Directors in 2010 and hosted the 2012 PBC conference, entitled ‘The Geochemistry of Hazardous Substances – Human Health and Ecological Health Risk Factors’ at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea and the 2022 PBC conference , entitled “Environmental exposures in a changing climate” on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Affectionately known as “Kim”, he always had a smile on his face, could be heard sharing a laugh, and went out of his way to make others feel comfortable. He was a man to be feared when passing around the “depth charges”!

Kim will be sadly missed by the PBC family.