Current Work

Nursing Professor

Personal Hero

My mother

Words of Strength

Caring for people, respecting diversity, working together

Vision

To reduce the scale and impact of dementia, we need to provide an interdisciplinary, person-centered approach, based on comprehensive assessment of cognitive function and preferences of persons with dementia.

Strategy

So Young is planning to design a series of research projects to develop adequate tools for assessing the preferences of older adults with dementia. This can help develop effective person-centered interventions that improve their quality of life.

Impact

As an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, So Young aims to develop new assessment guidelines for nursing home residents in her home country of South Korea that will improve long-term care for persons with dementia and eventually contribute to promoting brain health equity worldwide.

Motivation

The preferences and needs of Korean older adults, especially those with cognitive problems, are not carefully considered due to their frailty and deteriorated functional status, including cognitive impairment.

Education & Experience

So Young received her master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and PhD degree from University of California San Francisco. She is an associate professor in the College of Nursing, Inje University in South Korea. Her research interest is advancing the quality of life in older adults with cognitive problems and helping their caregivers who may experience unexpected struggles while caring for them.

Awards & Honors

Korean Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics
2019
Excellent Research Poster Award
Inje University
Factors influencing cognitive dysfunction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
2018-2019
Institutional Research Grant
Inje University
Relationship between subjective and objective measures of cognitive impairment in persons with rheumatoid arthritis
2016-2017
Institutional Research Grant
National Research Foundation of Korea
Effects of a pilot intervention program for improving cognitive function & physical function in persons with rheumatoid arthritis
2014-2016
National Research Grant
USCF/John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence
2011
Research, & Leadership Development Scholarship