Dr. Jerome Kim is the Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), based in South Korea, and an international expert on the development and evaluation of vaccines. Interviewing Dr. Kim is Salome Da Silva Duarte Lepez, a researcher and analyst in health policy with a background in neuroscience and rare neuromuscular diseases. Previously, Ms. Lepez co-authored a paper published in KEI’s On Korea 2023, titled, “South Korea as a Global Vaccine Hub.”

During their conversation, Dr. Kim and Ms. Lepez explore a range of issues, including the history and evolution of IVI; the IVI’s role in working with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) biomanufacturing training hub established in South Korea in 2022; the nature of the training and coursework IVI and the biomanufacturing hub provide and how it aims to improve public health in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs); how these efforts fit into a broader array of public and private institutions, an uncertain geopolitical environment, and South Korea’s own science diplomacy; and how such efforts may evolve in the future, particularly as the world moves beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.