Kyung Chan (KC) Park

My longstanding interest in the biology of the heart led me to focus on a range of topics pertaining to cardiovascular science during my undergraduate degree (Biomedical Sciences, King’s College London; First Class Honours). Under the supervision of Professor Michael Marber, my dissertation considered cardiac troponin as a commonly used biomarker, but an imperfect, index of myocardial injury (review). After graduating in 2015, I subsequently joined the laboratory of Professor Michael Shattock at the Rayne Institute (BHF Centre of Research Excellence, King’s College London) on a Physiological Society Studentship, primarily to identify stimulators of the cardiac Na/K ATPase.

In 2016, I commenced the British Heart Foundation 4-Year Non-Clinical PhD Studentship in Cardiovascular Science at the University of Oxford, as a Postgraduate Student of The Queen’s College. After a rotation project with Assoc. Prof. Craig Lygate (Cardiac Energetics Group), I joined the Department in 2017 as a DPhil student of Prof. Pawel Swietach and the Proton Transport Laboratory (co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Nicola Smart). My doctoral research investigated the effects of dysregulated propionate metabolism on cardiac physiology.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I volunteered to pause my PhD project in order to carry out research on COVID-19. In August 2021, I completed my DPhil and continued working under Prof. Swietach as a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist. This position is funded by an Initial Grant from the Propionic Acidemia Foundation (PAF; United States) and a Career Development Award provided by the Oxford BHF Doctoral Training Programme to widen my skillset. From the Career Development Award, I began working Assoc. Prof. Thomas Milne at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.

In addition to my research activities, I teach topics in Integrative Systems Physiology to Biomedical Sciences undergraduates through a position with Corpus Christi College, and I am currently training to become an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE).

Recent awards

July 2020: Paul Dudley White International Scholar, American Heart Association.

June 2020: Best Talk (Joint 1st), Sherrington Talks, Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics.

September 2019: Best Poster, Wellcome Trust OXION Annual Symposium (Integrative Physiology Initiative in Ion Channels and Diseases of Electrically Excitable Cells).

September 2019: Poster Commendation, Oxford BHF Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium.