Executive Officer

CAPT Kim first entered the U.S. Naval service via the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program in 2002. He attended medical school at Western University, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific and was commissioned as a Lieutenant upon graduation in May 2005. Following graduation, CAPT Kim reported to Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he served as a first year intern within the psychiatry residency program from 2005-2006. He was selected for psychiatry residency immediately following completion of his internship year. He completed residency training in 2009 and was immediately slated for deployment to Expeditionary Medical Force-Kuwait, where he served as staff psychiatrist from July 2009 to February 2010. At the end of his deployment, CAPT Kim returned to duty at Naval Medical Center San Diego and became the head of the consult liaison service. He was involved in training interns, residents, and corpsmen of all specialties in the management of acute mental health cases.
 

In August 2010, CAPT Kim reported to Naval Hospital Guam to serve as the department head for Mental Health. He received board certification as a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in November 2010. As department head, he established the first command Level II Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program for Joint Region Marianas. He was selected by the chair of the Executive Committee for the medical staff to revitalize the Provider Wellness Committee, which had been dormant at Naval Hospital Guam for several years. Over the next year, he developed a wellness program to target providers and expanded the catchment to include all staff at the hospital. CAPT Kim was then selected as the chair of the Credentials Review Committee and co-chair of the Executive Committee for the medical staff. As a result of his efforts, he was selected by his commanding officer as the command process improvement champion. He provided executive coaching to directors and department heads, assisting in process improvement efforts for the command. CAPT Kim led an initiative to bridge the gap for the mental health care of over 600 Army personnel on the island of Guam, who historically traveled to Hawaii to obtain such vital services. His efforts led to the development of resilience programs and the expansion of services in Guam to provide care for the Army units.

CAPT Kim was hand selected by the psychiatry specialty leader to be the first operational psychiatrist in the Fleet. In October 2015, he began his term as Fleet Surgical Team Three Psychiatrist (FST-3). As a key stakeholder, he established protocols for providing care throughout a ship’s lifecycle to include individual/group care, crisis intervention, and consultation for departmental resilience. CAPT Kim received the Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer qualification during deployment.

In November 2017, CAPT Kim reported to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton where he served as a staff psychiatrist, department head of SARP/Treatment Programs and as the senior medical officer for the directorate of mental health. He was the co-lead for the Virtual Mental Health Working Group, coordinating enterprise-wide efforts to develop capabilities for real time and asynchronous forms of virtual treatment. He was actively involved in the family medicine residency and Independent Duty Corpsman training programs, coordinating mental health didactics and clinical rotations for interns and IDC students. In addition, CAPT Kim established a clinical clerkship for Navy social work fellows to provide vital clinical and leadership experience to prepare for operational assignments. In April 2020, CAPT Kim was called upon to lead a special psychiatric rapid intervention team in response to the COVID-19 crisis aboard CVN-71 to provide psychological first aid for the Sailors.

CAPT Kim reported to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Oak Harbor where he served in a Medical Corps milestone billet as Chief Medical Officer. He led the command through a successful Medical Inspector General inspection and Joint Commission survey as the hospital transitioned to an ambulatory facility. He spent nine months as the interim Executive Officer, leading the clinic’s transition to DHA. He arrived to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Twentynine Palms in August 2023 to assume the duties as the Executive Officer.