Dr. Hugh Kim is a certified periodontist with 17 years of clinical dental experience. Periodontics is the dental specialty devoted to the health of the tissues that support our teeth, namely the bone and gums. Periodontal (gum) disease affects nearly half of North American adults. This very common disease leads to tooth loss and increases our risk for heart disease and diabetes.
Dr. Kim’s goal is to treat periodontal (gum) disease and improve our patients’ health gently, efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.
Dr. Kim obtained his dental (DMD) degree from the Université de Montréal (2000), followed by specialty training in periodontics and Master’s degree from UBC. Hugh then pursued in-depth training in basic science research, completing a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Toronto and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University (Boston, MA).
With his extensive clinical and scientific background, Dr. Kim holds an academic appointment at the University of British Columbia, where he leads a research laboratory at the UBC Centre for Blood Research (http://cbr.ubc.ca). Dr. Kim’s research is focused on how our cells read and interpret biochemical signals at the molecular level. Specifically, Dr. Kim and his team are interested in understanding how these cell signals control inflammation, which could one day lead to better treatments for chronic conditions such as gum disease and arthritis.