Jun Yeong Byun, PhD, MSN, RN, a postdoctoral fellow in the UAB School of Nursing, has received a highly competitive K99/R00 award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
to support her research on improving health outcomes for people living with both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and HIV.
Byun, who is originally from South Korea, began her career as a registered nurse in a medical intensive care unit, where she cared for patients with complex and chronic illnesses. Seeing patients repeatedly return to the hospital led her to pursue research focused on creating lasting improvements in patients’ health and well-being.
Now, her research focuses on resilience among people living with COPD and HIV. Through the K99/R00 award, Byun will develop and pilot a resilience-enhancing behavioral intervention based on the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP), an evidence-based mind-body program that incorporates relaxation, mindfulness, coping skills and social support.
As part of the project, Byun will speak with people living with COPD and HIV and health care providers to better understand their experiences and needs. Those insights will help her adapt 3RP for this population before pilot testing the intervention.
“The K99/R00 provides a unique bridge between mentored training and independence,” Byun said. “By the end of the award, I hope to have established the scientific foundation, preliminary evidence, and research skills needed to lead larger clinical trials and establish myself as an independent nurse scientist.”
The award will also provide Byun with continued mentorship from an interdisciplinary team that includes Dr. Mirjam-Colette Kempf of the UAB School of Nursing, Dr. Ken Kunisaki of the Boise VA Medical Center, Dr. Christina Psaros of Harvard University and Dr. Liang Shan of the UAB School of Nursing.
“I am extremely proud of Jun and her accomplishments as an International Postdoctoral Fellow at UAB and I am confident that the K99/R00 award will allow her to achieve her scientific and developmental goals as a Scientific Scholar,” Kempf said.
For Byun, the recognition represents more than a career milestone. It reinforces the importance of the academic community that has supported her development as a researcher.
“Throughout the process of preparing the grant application, I was reminded again and again that ‘it takes a whole community to raise a scientist,’” she said.
Ultimately, Byun hopes her research will help people living with COPD and HIV feel more empowered to manage the challenges of chronic illness and improve their everyday health and quality of life. Following the K99/R00 award period, she plans to pursue a larger clinical trial and explore ways to integrate resilience-enhancing interventions into routine health care.