Carla Kim, PhD, recognized for her significant contributions to the advancement of women within academic medicine

BOSTON, MA [June 3, 2026] - Carla Kim, PhD, works tirelessly to support early career-stage faculty in advancing their careers, driven by a conviction that the future and promise of science lies in setting the next generation of researchers up for success. For her efforts in fostering the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women faculty members, Kim has received the Joseph B. Martin Dean's Leadership Award for Advancement of Women Faculty at Harvard Medical School. Kim is a principal investigator in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, professor of genetics, and the Boston Children's Hospital professor of pediatrics in the field of regenerative medicine at Harvard Medical School. Aside from running a biomedical research laboratory, Kim serves in two leadership positions at Boston Children's and HMS where she develops programming and professional development opportunities for early career-stage faculty.

"Few faculty members have matched the breadth, consistency, and long-term impact of her efforts to ensure that women scientists are recruited, supported, promoted, and recognized as leaders in academic medicine," says Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Children's and the Mary Ellen Avery Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard. "Despite the demands of leading a highly productive research program, Dr. Kim has consistently made advocacy for women a central part of her professional mission."

Recognizing that the existing career initiative programs were skewed toward clinicians, Kim lobbied to create a director of basic research career development position within the Boston Children's Office of Faculty Development to better support the more than 400 laboratory-based faculty. In this position, she developed a Laboratory Leadership Course along with Boston Children's Chief Science Officer Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, that provides support for early career laboratory science faculty. Now in its third year, the course introduces researchers to the logistics of running a laboratory and earning tenure. Participants can connect and support one another in navigating common problems facing principal investigators. Of the 48 participants, 40 of them are women.

At Harvard, Kim wanted to form similar supportive communities for faculty. It was there that she took on the role of director of career enhancement for faculty in science, which operates under the Office of Clinical and Academic Affairs (OCAA). Here, she promotes leadership and advancement, and encourages women into entrepreneurship. Through the grassroots group, Faculty Leaders in Science, she implemented a peer coaching program that continues to train faculty how to prepare for leadership roles and offers programs to better support faculty at all stages.

She clearly takes a special pride in this one-on-one coaching seeing herself not only as an advisor but often also as a sponsor with a personal stake in her mentees' advancement in their roles in academic medicine," says Hans Oettgen, MD, PhD, faculty dean for academic programs at Boston Children's.

As a way of providing more exposure and networking opportunities for scientists, Kim and Marcia Haigis, professor of cell biology at Harvard, launched the Women in Science Symposium, now in its fifth year, which invites speakers to present research and share pearls of wisdom. This year's event had 100 in-person attendees and 500 on Zoom.

Kim also wants to ensure that her organization's faculty demographics are representative of the greater science community. In her recruitment efforts, she ensures applicant pools have adequate representation by women and encourages people she knows to apply on faculty search committees she participates. Her efforts so far hired at least nine new women faculty members to the Boston Children's/Harvard academic fold.

Aside from her numerous leadership activities, Kim manages a laboratory that uses stem cells to understand lung disease and cancer. The lab uses miniature lungs-in-a-dish, known as organoids, created from mouse or patient tissue samples in their studies.

Within her lab, she has trained many women including five pre-doctoral students, 14 research assistants/lab managers, 15 undergraduates, and 14 postdoctoral fellows. Of these fellows, five now hold positions in academia and the rest reside in leadership positions in clinical care, biotech, or pharmaceutical industries. Kim served on 22 academic committees and 42 thesis advisors in the Boston community.

"I have a lot of gratitude for the people who have supported me to give me the opportunity to take on these roles, and it's been rewarding to channel that inspiration," says Kim. "The activities we organize help our community become better connected, set each other up for success, and make us all better scientists."

- Vanessa McMains