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Portrait of Dr. Scott Y. H. Kim
Scott Y. H. Kim, MD, PhD

Senior Investigator


Bioethics


MD, Harvard Medical School
PhD, University of Chicago; BA, Wheaton College


Email: scott.kim@nih.gov
Phone:301-496-2429

Portrait of Dr. Scott Y. H. Kim
Scott Y. H. Kim, MD, PhD

Senior Investigator


Bioethics


MD, Harvard Medical School
PhD, University of Chicago; BA, Wheaton College


Email: scott.kim@nih.gov
Phone:301-496-2429


Dr. Scott Y. H. Kim is a bioethicist-physician who studies both clinical and research ethics. He is an expert on ethical issues in pragmatic clinical trials, decision-making capacity and surrogate decision-making, and end of life ethics.


Dr. Kim received his MD from Harvard and PhD in moral philosophy (on Kantian ethics) from the University of Chicago, and trained in adult psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to coming to the NIH, he was Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan. He remains a loyal Wolverines fan.

Dr. Kim combines philosophical, clinical, and empirical research approaches to study a variety of ethical issues (ethical issues in invasive neurological trials, ethics of pragmatic clinical trials, assessment of decision-making capacity, surrogate consent for incapacitated patients, theory and practice of informed consent, and physician assisted death).

His work is highly collaborative, and in addition to working closely with colleagues within the Department of Bioethics at the NIH Clinical Center, he works with researchers from around the world, including University of Michigan/Maastricht U, Emory, Brigham&Women's/Harvard, Sloan-Kettering, U of Sheffield/Queen Mary's U London, KLeuven (Belgium), and King's College London/Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurosciences.

Dr. Kim's work has been supported by grants from the NIMH, NINDS, NIA, NHGRI, Michael J. Fox Foundation, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and the Greenwall Foundation. His work has appeared in New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, JAMA, and other key journals. His book Evaluation of Capacity to Consent to Treatment and Research (Oxford, 2010) was translated into Japanese.

His research has been covered in the popular media, including the New York Times and the Atlantic. More information can be found at his personal website.

See his Intramural Research Program bio page.

Curriculum Vitae

Nicolini ME, Peteet JR, Donovan K, Kim SYH. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders: The Challenge of Personality Disorders. Psychological Medicine.  2019: Online ahead of print: DOI 10.1017/S0033291719000333.

Miller DG, Kim SYH, Li X, Dickert NW, Flory J, Runge CP, Relton C. Ethical Acceptability of Post-Randomization Consent in Pragmatic Clinical Trials: A National Survey of the US General Public. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(8):e186149. Doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6149.

Ruck Keene A, Kane NB, Kim SYH, Owen GS. Taking capacity seriously? Ten years of mental capacity disputes before England’s Court of Protection. Int J Law Psychiatry. 2019;62:56-76.

Kim SYH, Conwell Y, Caine ED. Suicide and physician-assisted death for persons with psychiatric disorders: How much overlap? JAMA Psychiatry. 2018. 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2065

Dickert NW, Wendler D, Devireddy CM, Goldkind S, Ko Yi-An, Speight CD, Kim SYH. Understanding Preferences Regarding Consent for Pragmatic Trials in Acute Care. Clinical Trials. 2018:1740774518801007.

Miller DG, Dresser R, Kim SYH. Advance euthanasia directives: a controversial case and its ethical implications. J Med Ethics. 2018.

Kim SYH. Ethical Issues in Pragmatic Trials of ‘Standard-of-Care’ Interventions in Learning Healthcare Systems. Learning Health Systems. 2018: 1-5.

Tom Tomlinson T, De Vries RG, Kim HM, Gordon L, Krenz CD, Ryan KA, Jewell S, Kim SYH. Effect of Deliberation on the Public’s Attitudes Toward Consent Policies for Biobank Research. European Journal of Human Genetics. 2018;26(2):176-185.

Dickert NW, Wendler D, Devireddy CM, Goldkind S, Ko Yi-An, Speight CD, Kim SYH. Consent Preferences for Pragmatic Trials in Acute Illness. J Am College Cardiology. 2018: 71(9); 1051-1053.

Miller DG, Kim SYH. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide not meeting due care criteria in the Netherlands: a qualitative review of review committee judgements. BMJ Open 2017;7:e017628. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017628

Vickers AJ, Young-Afat DA, Ehdaie B, Kim SYH. Just-in-time consent: the ethical case for an alternative to traditional informed consent in randomized trials comparing an experimental intervention with usual care. Clinical Trials. 2017:1740774517746610.

Kim SYH, Flory J, Relton C. Ethics and Practice of Trials within Cohorts (TwiCs): An Emerging Pragmatic Trial Design. Clinical Trials. 2017:1740774517746620.

Dickert NW, Eyal N, Goldkind S, Grady C, Joffe S, Lo B, Miller FG, Silbergleit R, Weinfurt KP, Wendler D, Kim SYH. Re-Framing Consent for Clinical Research: A Function-Based Approach. American Journal of Bioethics. 2017;17(12):3-11.

De Vries, R. G., Tomlinson, T., Kim, H. M., Krenz, C., Haggerty, D., Ryan, K. A., & Kim S.Y.. (2016). Understanding the Public's Reservations about Broad Consent and Study-By-Study Consent for Donations to a Biobank: Results of a National Survey. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(7), e0159113. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159113

Kim SYH, De Vries RG, Peteet JR. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders in the Netherlands 2011 to 2014. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016; 73(4), 362-368. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2887

Nayak RK, Wendler D, Miller FG, Kim SYH. Pragmatic Randomized Trials Without Standard Informed Consent?: A National Survey.  Annals of Internal Medicine. 2015;163(5):356.

Kim SYH, Miller FG. Varieties of standard-of-care treatment randomized trials: Ethical implications. JAMA. 2015;313(9):895-896.

Tomlinson T, De Vries R, Ryan K, Kim H, Lehpamer N, Kim SYH. Moral concerns and the willingness to donate to a research biobank. JAMA. 2015;313(4):417-419. PMC4443895

Kim SYH, Karlawish J, Berkman BE. Ethics of Genetic and Biomarker Test Disclosures in Neurodegenerative Disease Prevention Trials. Neurology. 2015; 84(14): 1488-1494.

Kim SYH, Miller FG. Informed Consent for Pragmatic Trials: The Integrated Consent Model. New Eng J Medicine 2014; 370:769-72.


  • Dorfman Journal Paper Award for Best Article for Original Research, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, 2017
  • NIH Clinical Center Director’s Award, 2017
  • 15th Annual James Bartlett Memorial Lecture, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, Dec. 8, 2016
  • 31st Annual Emanuel & Nathalie Goldberg Family Lecturer, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester School of Medicine, October 1-2, 2015
  • UBC Distinguished Neuroethics Lecturer for Brain Awareness Week, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, March 13, 2013
  • Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholar, 2006-2013
  • Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, Annual Research Award, 2012
  • George Collier Memorial Lecturer, University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Rochester, NY, March 30-31, 2010
  • Dorfman Journal Paper Award for Best Article for Original Research, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, 2006

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This page last updated on 12/08/2023

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