Eugene K

Philanthropy / Volunteering Experience

At My Private Professor, our collaboration with the Illumination Foundation involves offering educational assistance to students facing homelessness. Over the past 3 years, I have directly assisted students in such extreme circumstances to enhance their academic achievements.

As a volunteer at Scripps Green Hospital, I worked with the rehabilitation team (Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy) to improve the care of inpatients through increased interactions, providing social support and compassion. At the bedside, I created hand mobility exercises and interacted with patients post-treatment/surgery. I observed swallow studies and saw how the health practitioners use medical instruments to assess dietary plans for patients with swallowing disorders. The opportunity to provide a calming, optimistic presence to those overcoming physical challenges gives me great satisfaction.

My research interest in biological materials science expanded as I joined California’s top-ranked life sciences accelerator, HomeLab. With 52 university biotech startups achieving over $1.5 billion in exits, our program fostered startups to transform their idea into a potential consumer product. Under the guidance of Salah Mahmoudi, the co-founder of ReneuBio, I cultured and performed assays with formulated compounds on the activation of neural stem cells to identify therapeutic targets directly in aged tissues. By sharing my scientific inputs on the experimental design, we achieved groundbreaking therapeutic outcomes focusing on age-related neurological injuries and diseases. The 3 months of experimental data attracted initial venture capital offers and opened up tangible milestones in advancing the research and development phase. Working alongside Julio de Unamuno IV, the executive manager of Homelab, I hosted and facilitated coffee networking events for biotech founders to showcase their work on novel therapeutics, sustainable biomaterials, and drug discovery. At the hub of La Jolla, we attract and recruit scientific talents who have pivoted from established pharmaceutical companies or research universities to pursue their passions in the biotech startup.

As a UCLA Chemistry Alumni, I enjoyed my college experience by representing as a Team USA collegiate athlete and as the President of the UCLA Taekwondo Club. For a few years, I had the great honor to perform under the UCLA Marching Band and support our NCAA Division I basketball, football, gymnastics, and every imaginable sports teams! This dream school has provided unimaginable opportunities with lifetime friends inside and outside of the academic realm. If UCLA is your dream school, I look forward to discussing further!