Genexine

Leadership Genexine,
Leads a Happier Tomorrow
We are paving the way for global medicine
with next-generation innovative medicines led by hyFC and DNA vaccines
sroll

  • Sung June Hong

    CEO

    Sungjune is the President/CEO of Genexine who has accumulated experience and insights in the management field including finance, legal and strategy.
    Before joining Genexine, Sung June was CFO at Handok, Phillip Morris, Schneider Electric and Nike Korea and served as the president and COO of ROKIT Healthcare. Sungjune is a certified public accountant in the US and Korea and began his professional career at Arthur Andersen LLP.
    He graduated from Yonsei Univ. and earned BA and MBA degrees in Business Administration. He also received an LLM from Vanderbilt Law School and is a member of New York Bar.
  • Hyun-Jin Park

    Head of Business Development

    Hyun-Jin Park is the executive vice-president in charge of business development who has joined Genexine in 2022. She has more than 15 years of extensive experience in various department for Korean and Global business, including the experience in Daewoong Pharamaceuticals and GSK Korea.

    Prior to joining Genexine, she worked in Daewoong Pharmaceutical Business Development and Marketing for Korean market division where she performed key business alliance successfully and created a new business model, driving the organizational change and strategy innovation. She moved to the Global Business unit in 2010 for the Global Strategy & Business Development and Global Regulatory Affairs where she covered the business outside Korea, including China, Asian countries, and those that Daewoong has preexisting connection to. She contributed to establishing the foundation for global business expansion and effectively reinforced the global regulatory affairs and product portfolio with an excellent leadership and corporate communication.
    She managed the Development Division and the Global Business Division, the core divisions of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, leading mid- to long-term growth.
  • Mi-Sun Byun

    Head of Clinical Development

    Mi-Sun is the head of Clinical Development in charge of the various clinical studies and development programs. Since 2009, she has played a leading role as a major researcher at Genexine Bio Research Institute and Non-clinical Development and Clinical studies. She also has extensive experience in the overall scope of biopharmaceutical development. She has worked together to develop and grow Genexine's core platform technologies such as hyFc and DNA vaccine, and is working towards the approval of products under final development.
    Mi-Sun completed her Ph.D. at the Catholic School of Medicine.
  • Gwang-Hyeon Gwon

    Head of Bio Research Institute

    Over the past 10 years, Gwang-Hyeon has been involved at Genexine as a key researcher, contributing to the entire process from preclinical development to commercialization of biopharmaceuticals. He has expertise in biopharmaceutical process development, and as a leader in various research projects, he has worked within the lab and even carried out technology transfer of major pipelines abroad. He has been building a healthy organizational culture within the research center, and contributing to work commitment.
    Gwang-Hyeon completed his Ph.D. in Protein Structural Biology at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and holds expertise in protein engineering and protein structure.
  • Young-Jin Kim

    The chairman of BOD

    Young-Jin Kim is Chairman & CEO of Handok Inc. Founded in 1954, Handok has led the advancement of Korean pharmaceutical industry through key partnerships with industry-leading global pharmaceutical companies and the early adoption of global standard systems.
    Young-Jin Kim began his career in 1984 at Hoechst AG, then a joint venture partner of Handok, and has served in various leadership roles within Handok’s joint ventures throughout his career before being appointed Chairman & CEO of Handok in 2006.
    Recognized as a leader in the industry, Young-Jin has been honored with numerous recognitions, including the Prime Minister’s Citation in 2000 for his contribution to Korea’s industrial development and the Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit in 2005 for improving cooperation between labor and management.
    Young-Jin is President of Handok Jeseok Foundation since 2014. He has also served as President of KDG (Korean-German Society) since 2010.
    Young-Jin graduated from Yonsei University in Korea with a BA in business administration in 1979. He earned his MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 1984 and also received the award of Distinguished Alumni Fellows from the university. Young-Jin completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1996.
  • Sung June Hong

    Executive, CFO

    Sung June is an executive board member of Genexine, and he is responsible for all managerial support functions of the company, including financial strategy, accounting, investor and public relations, legal and SCM.
    Sung June previously served as President and COO of ROKIT Healthcare, where he supervised all managerial functions of the company. Before joining ROKIT, Sung June was CFO at Handok, Schneider Electric and Nike Korea. He began his professional career as a certified public accountant at Arthur Andersen.
    Sung June holds an MBA and BA in Business Administration from Yonsei University. He also received an LLM from Vanderbilt Law School. Sung June is a member of KICPA, AICPA, and New York Bar.
  • Hyuk-Jong Lee

    Other Non-Executive

    Mr. Hyukjong Lee is an entrepreneur and a leader in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry with more than 20 years of experience. He is currently the CEO and President of Binex which is known to be one of the top biologics CDMO in Asia where he has been in charge of corporate strategy planning and global business development, etc. He is the co-founder of Binex Holdings, the largest shareholder of Binex. Prior to his career at Binex, he has mainly been responsible for strategy planning and business development as the CEO at Genexine from 2005 to 2011. He is also an expert in the finance field with experience at Daewoo Securities.
    Mr. Hyukjong Lee holds a B.A. in Business Administration, a M.A. in Finance at Seoul National University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley.
  • Jin-Keon Pai

    Non-Executive

    Dr. Pai Jin Keon graduated from the Department of Biochemistry of Yonsei University in 1974 and received Ph.D. at the School of Pharmacy, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1982. Since 1986 Dr. Pai has worked as a senior researcher at Schering-Plough in the United States for 24 years.
    Since returning to Korea in 2008, he served as Executive Director of R&D, JW Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and CEO of C&C New Drug Development Research Institute. Dr. Pai was essential in introducing open innovation at Handok Pharmaceuticals for five years. After retiring at Handok, he was the Vice President of the Abnoa Research Institute in Korea. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Innocure Therapeutics and an in-house board director. He is also helping startups as the head of the Technology Assessment Team at the WoojungBio New Drug Discovery Cluster.
    He published 'Development of New Medicine to Save People' and 'Basic Story of Saving People in COVID-19' and has written more than 400 columns for ordinary people.
  • Peter N. Laivins

    Non-Executive

    Peter N. Laivins is an Independent consultant and Founder of Neurocognitive Insights LLC. An experienced executive with integrity and proven leadership of both commercial and clinical development for emerging biotech and large pharma, provides c-suite level advice to leaders of growth-oriented companies.
    Most recently, Peter served as Chief Commercial Officer for Alzheon Inc., a privately-held neuroscience company, overseeing strategy, communications, and investor development. Prior to Alzheon, as Senior Vice President of Strategic development program leadership in R&D at Tesaro Inc., he led development core teams for the PARP-inhibitor ZEJULA© and multiple immuno-oncology assets (anti-PD1, anti-TIM3, and anti-LAG3).
    At Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, as Senior Vice President - Late-stage clinical development, he was responsible for the phase 3 development and FDA approval of ONIVYDE© - the first new therapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer in 20 years.
    During a 20+ year tenure at Pfizer Inc., Peter held roles of increasing responsibility culminating as Senior Director / Group Leader, Pfizer US Oncology, where he built a cross-functional oncology business unit and led the launch of SUTENT© - a breakthrough oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor for renal cell carcinoma. A graduate of McGill University (Montreal) with a BSc in microbiology and immunology, and MBA in marketing and corporate policy, originally from Montreal Canada, Peter now resides in Scituate Massachusetts, USA.
    Through integrity and diversity of leadership experience across the spectrum of research, development and commercialization, we believe that Peter Laivins brings a powerful combination of skills qualifying him as a Board member for Genexine.
  • Jin-Hyoung Kang

    Professor of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital Director in Medical Oncology Program, the Catholic University of Korea

    Professor Jin Hyoung Kang graduated from The Catholic University of Korea in 1984 and took an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital between 1984 and 1988. He earned his MS in 1988 and Ph.D. in 1995 at The Catholic University Graduate School. He was a research fellow at Cornell University Medical College, majoring in research on cell adhesion molecules in tumor metastasis. He has been a faculty member of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea since 1993 and a Professor of Medical Oncology since 2004. In 2018, He earned a master’s degree in EMBA Program at Korea Management Business School.
    He has published more than 280 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His current research focus is experimental therapeutics and early clinical development of novel target agents and immune-oncology drugs. He discovered a novel driver oncogene, KIF5B-RET, in a Korean NSCLC patient in 2012 and is currently interested in autophagy and tumor microenvironment in cancer research.
    Professor Kang has been involved in clinical trials as principal investigator or co-investigator in over 120 clinical trials evaluating novel agents in other malignancies, including lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and malignant melanoma. He is trying to construct a prediction model applying deep learning techniques to multi-omics data curated from lung cancer patients.
    Professor Kang has contributed to evaluating novel anti-cancer drugs and the bioequivalent test of generic drugs as an Executive Consultant of MFDS since 2002. He is carrying out the R&D Projects funded by KNCC (Korean National Cancer Center, Cancer Conquer Project) and NRF (National Research Foundation). He was the president of the Korean Cancer Study Group (KCSG) between 2016 and 2021. Currently, he is the Korean Head and Neck Cancer Association president and a member of international scientific societies, including ASCO, AACR, ESMO, and IASLC.
  • Eui-Cheol Shin

    Prof. Eui-Cheol Shin received his M.D. (1996) and Ph.D. (2001) from Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and his postdoctoral training from NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Then he joined the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, in 2007, where he is currently a professor. His laboratory researches T cell responses in human viral disease and cancer. In particular, they now focus on ‘T cell-mediated immunopathogenesis,‘ ‘senescence of T cells,’ ‘reinvigoration of exhausted T cells,‘ ‘human immune monitoring,’ and ‘immune responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19’. Prof. Shin was elected as a member of The Korea Academy of Science and Technology in 2019.
  • Myung-Ju Ahn

    Professor Myung-Ju Ahn, with approximately 38 years of experience, obtained her doctoral degree from Hanyang University College of Medicine in 1992. Afterward, she worked as a resident physician at Seoul Asan Hospital before completing a Postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Returning to Korea in 1995, she worked for about 11 years at Hanyang University-affiliated Guri Hospital and Seoul Hospital before joining the Department of Hematology-Oncology at Samsung Medical Center in 2006, where she is currently employed.

    Since 2003, Professor Ahn has been annually recognized as one of the most influential researchers worldwide until 2020. She has served as the president of the Korean Society of Medical Oncology and is currently the director of the Korean Association for Lung Cancer. Additionally, she is an active board member of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

    Her active involvement in clinical research for the development of novel therapies such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy for lung cancer has been widely acknowledged. She has been honored with the 2018 Boehringer Ingelheim Oncology Award from the Korean Cancer Foundation, the 30th BUNSHI Medical Award from the Korean Medical Association and Boehringer Ingelheim Korea in 2020, and the Adi F. Gadzar Merit Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in 2023.

    The Samsung Seoul Hospital, where Professor Ahn works, is renowned both domestically and internationally as a leading medical institution. Known for its state-of-the-art facilities, innovative protocols, and high-level clinical research, the hospital is recognized for treating approximately 12% of cancer patients in Korea.
  • Ho-Keun Kwon

    Professor Kwon Ho-Keun and his research team at the Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, delve deep into the intricate functions of the immune system, with a particular focus on the role of regulatory T cells.

    With postdoctoral research experience from Harvard Medical School, Professor Kwon explores immune response regulation, the development of tolerance mechanisms, and the significance of maintaining immunological homeostasis.

    Their research aims to elucidate the origins of inflammatory diseases such as autoimmune disorders, cancer, and neurodevelopmental disorders, ultimately striving to develop therapeutic approaches for these conditions.

    Focusing on the actions of regulatory T cells and the interactions between the immune system, gut, and brain (the Immune-Gut-Brain axis), their research endeavors to uncover novel therapeutic strategies that contribute to improving human health.