Dongwook Kim, MSW, MA, LGSW

About Me

Hi. My name is Dongwook Kim, and I’m a Doctoral Candidate in Social Work at Arizona State University. My research interests primarily lie in the areas of behavioral health, particularly stigma reduction and resilience building in social work settings and within public health establishments in relation to HIV/AIDS.

My dissertation, Stigma Trajectories and the Social Ecology of Living with HIV: The Role of Generational Experience in Navigating Health and Information, examines how HIV-related stigma shapes health information management, and how these pathways vary across the life course. Grounded in a communication framework of information management (how people seek, manage, or avoid information to regulate uncertainty) and an intersectional health equity lens, my work traces the stigma dynamics that structure chronic illness management.

Methodologically, I use a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including causal inference and ethnography. I also conduct quality improvement work as part of program evaluation, translating evaluation questions into practical measures and actionable feedback for service settings. In addition, I leverage computational social science techniques such as quantitative text analysis (e.g., sentiment analysis and topic modeling).

I hold an MSW from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London, supported by the Chevening Scholarship from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. I earned my BA in English and Political Science from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, and later completed a second bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Data Science at Korea National Open University.

Prior to pursuing social work education and scholarship, I worked with global nonprofit organizations in child protection and program evaluation, including roles as a child protection officer in South Sudan (2012–2013), a program evaluation lead across Nepal, Tanzania, and Ethiopia (2014–2020), and a country manager in Rwanda (2016–2018). Drawing on more than 13 years of community health and human service practice, I bring an applied, field- informed perspective to community-engaged research and equity-focused scholarship.

My CV can be found here.