Sunyoung Lee is a Master’s student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science (MMBS), Graduate School of Convergence Science, Seoul National University. She is a registered nurse who earned her nursing degree from Ajou University and gained clinical experience at Seoul National University Hospital. She later worked as a Clinical Project Leader at the Development Center of Daewoong Pharmaceutical Company and partook in the clinical research of Fexuprazan and URSA. With her growing interest in real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE), she joined CCADD during the 2025 Summer Internship Program to further explore the field and develop her research competencies.

Soyoung Park is an undergraduate researcher at CCADD after completing the 2025 Summer Internship program. She is a double major in Material Science and Engineering and Industrial and Data Engineering at Hongik University. During her undergraduate years, she was able to combine a strong foundation in engineering with advanced data analysis skills. During the internship, she participated in the research projects, where she gained experience in causality assessment for drug safety and developed a broader understanding of the overall drug development process. Building on these experiences, she is now exploring AI-driven approaches to drug development, with a particular interest in drug–drug interaction prediction and explainable machine learning, aiming to contribute to the advancement of safer and more effective drug development.

This summer, CCADD welcomes five interns - Minseop Yeom, Sungwook Choi, Sunyoung Lee, Soyoung Park and Chaeyoung Chang - for the 2025 Summer Internship Program.

Minseop Yeom is a student majoring in Biotechnology and Big Data Convergence at Sangmyung University. He is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence (AI) can be applied in clinical research and used to improve the efficiency of drug development systems. Through the CCADD internship, he hopes to gain hands-on experience in data-driven approaches to clinical development. This opportunity will serve as an essential step toward his long-term goal of becoming a researcher who contributes to advancing clinical processes and drug discovery through AI-based innovation.

Sungwook Choi is a student majoring in Software Engineering and Business Administration at Konkuk University. He previously worked as a part-time employee at Celltrion, where he developed an interest in biosimilars and clinical statistics. During the upcoming summer internship program, he aims to enhance efficiency in the drug development process and contribute to the development of manufacturing and analytical methods using AI.

Sunyoung Lee is a registered nurse who earned her nursing degree from Ajou University. She gained clinical experience at Seoul National University Hospital and later worked as a Clinical Project Leader at the Development Center of Daewoong Pharmaceutical Company. With a growing interest in real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE), she joined the CCADD internship program to further explore and develop her research competencies.

Soyoung Park is an undergraduate at Hongik University, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering with a double major in Industrial Data Engineering. At the Artificial Intelligence & Application Lab (AIA Lab), she contributed to developing machine learning models for predicting rotator cuff re-tear and reoperation. Rather than feeding MRI images directly into models, she reviewed each scan to identify the tear site and consistently measured its size. She then structured the data for modeling. By integrating these imaging features with clinical variables, she built predictive datasets and became familiar with the challenges of working with RWD, such as missing values, inconsistent ation, and the need for clinical context. This experience led to her interest in RWD analysis and how it can support data-driven decision-making in medicine. Her current interests include RWD analysis, medical AI, and applying generative AI to clinical workflows. Through the CCADD internship, she hopes to gain practical experience in clinical data analysis and build a strong foundation for future research in drug development.

Chaeyoung Chang is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry at Konkuk University, with a keen interest in integrating AI into drug development. She built foundational skills in data analysis through the K-Software Empowerment Bootcamp. Recently, she participated in the 2025 Google Solution Challenge, where her team developed an AI-powered emergency room matching service in the healthcare track. The team was selected among the global Top 10 and received the Most Societal Impact Award as one of the winners. She is now joining the CCADD internship to further explore AI-driven drug development and gain practical experience with real-world data.

During the 2025 summer internship, we hope interns continue to build confidence, stay curious, and actively engage in deepening their understanding of drug development and regulatory science with independence and passion.

This winter, CCADD welcomes six interns- Minsol Kim, Suhyun An, SeoYoon Jang, Seeun Park, Yura Choi and Nayoung Ku -  for the 2025 Winter Internship Program.

Minsol Kim is majoring in veterinary medicine at Seoul National University. She is interested in exploring the application of domain knowledge in the process of AI model development by utilizing her knowledge of pharmacology, toxicology, and physiology. Her goal is to build a solid foundation in AI and gain hands-on experience analyzing clinical data and investigating the drug development process. Through the 2025 CCADD winter internship program, she aims to explore potential career paths in the field of drug discovery.

Suhyun An is a student majoring in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biotechnology at Konkuk University. She previously worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Immunopharmacology Laboratory at Seoul National University College of Medicine, where she studied drug toxicity. Her current research interests include Drug-Drug Interactions (DDIs) and drug repurposing using artificial intelligence (AI). Her previous training primarily involved wet lab research. The CCADD internship will allow her to gain experience in data science applied to drug development, which will serve as a critical foundation for achieving her future research goals.

SeoYoon Jang is majoring in Systems Biotechnology at Chung-Ang University. She has a keen interest in AI and data science, which led her to complete the 2024 Boostcourse <DATA SCIENCE PROJECTS> coaching study program. Subsequently, she developed an interest in drug delivery and interned at the Lab of Drug Delivery and Cell Therapy at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. Her growing passion for integrating AI into drug development led her to a winter internship at the CCADD. Through this internship, she aims to gain proficiency in data analysis tools and deepen her domain knowledge, with the goal of becoming a researcher specializing in AI-driven drug development.

Seeun Park is a senior at Yonsei University, double majoring in Biotechnology and Public Administration. She is willing to explore clinical pharmacology and regulatory science during this winter internship program. With passion in healthcare and safety, she focuses on gaining more experience and knowledge on artificial intelligence for clinical drug development and more specifically epigenetic study and policy analysis in Korea. It is her goal to work on expertise for the improvement of disease prevention and control.

Yura Choi is an undergraduate student in the Department of Chemistry at Kyung Hee University. She is passionate about AI-driven drug development, applying data science to pharmaceutical research. Through the LAIDD program, she has gained valuable insights into how AI can be applied to drug development. She aims to contribute to drug development and explore innovative therapeutic modalities by leveraging AI-driven data analysis. Currently, she is participating in the CCADD winter internship to strengthen her AI and data science expertise and deepen her understanding of research in drug development.

Nayoung Ku is an undergraduate in life science and AI convergence at Handong Global University. She previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at the National Institute of Lifelong Education by Examination for Self-Education. Nowadays, Nayoung mainly develops prediction modelling and optimization algorithms with various datasets. She had been a research assistant at Biodata Laboratory, Handong Global University, focusing on cancer diagnostic machine learning models using tumour-educated platelet (TEP) RNA-seq data for a year. Recently, she did a capstone project on NLP for an ovarian cancer diagnostic model using TEP RNA-seq pre-processed data, which showed her creativity in analytic approach. She received the Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Award at the JUMP AI 2024 Drug Discovery Competition, sponsored by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association. In the competition, Nayoung and her team developed an advanced multi- perceptron to predict IC50 values for IRAK4 inhibitors by applying novel and strategic approaches to accelerate drug discovery processes. With her enthusiasm for enhancing the efficiency of drug discovery, she participates in this internship to experience real-world clinical data and its analysis, like electronic medical records. With a heart of admiration, she is yearning to learn the extraordinary methodology of CCADD. 

We hope that during their winter internship, they will build confidence in their area of expertise, develop independent learning skills to explore new knowledge, and dedicate their enthusiasm to gaining a comprehensive understanding of drug development and regulatory science throughout these two months.

CCADD members attended the 2025 Spring Conference of the Korean Society of Medical Informatics (KOSMI), held from June 22 to 24 at the Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Center. Under the theme “AI and Human Collaboration in the Age of Generative AI,” the conference brought together experts from medicine, engineering, law, and industry to discuss the latest developments and practical applications in medical informatics.

Key topics included strategies to automate workflows involving electronic medical records (EMRs) , such as methods using large language models (LLMs), strategies for utilizing MyData in healthcare, integration of genomic and spatial biology data for precision medicine, the potential of quantum computing in medicine, and AI-driven clinical prediction and decision support systems (CDSS).

In the keynote speech, Prof. Adrian Zai of UMass Chan Medical School delivered a presentation titled “Steering the Future of Medicine: Human-Centered AI in the Generative Age.” He emphasized the importance of moving beyond what AI can do, toward how its impact should be directed in clinical settings. He highlighted human-centered design, ethical oversight, and global collaboration as essential to ensuring AI truly supports care delivery.

Dr. Yoona Choi, a former member of CCADD and now a research professor at Seoul National University Hospital's Child Cancer and Rare Disease Project, presented her work on developing an LLM-based computable phenotype for pediatric lymphoma subtypes. The model leverages structured and unstructured EMR data—such as pathology reports and genetic test results—to improve classification accuracy based on real-world clinical data.

Prof. Howard Lee, Founding Director of CCADD and CEO of the digital health startup PMATCH, introduced PillTalk, a mobile app that allows patients to independently check drug–drug interactions using public data made available by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The app provides AI-powered, accessible information to help patients make safer medication decisions. Prof. Lee emphasized that public pharmaceutical datasets can be transformed into practical, patient-centered tools to enhance medication safety.

Through this conference, CCADD members were able to reflect on the essential role of interdisciplinary collaboration and responsible innovation in leveraging digital technologies to advance patient-centered care.

Suhyun An is a Master’s student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science (MMBS), Graduate School of Convergence Science, Seoul National University.

Her research centers around Medical Decision Making and AI-based drug discovery using large language models and deep neural networks, with a focus on adverse drug reactions and drug–drug interactions.

Suhyun An participated in CCADD during the 2024 Winter Internship Program and gained experience in real world data preprocessing, and machine learning. After the internship, Suhyun An continued as an undergraduate researcher at CCADD and participated in projects analyzing real-world data, including electronic medical records and clinical notes. These projects improved skills in natural language processing, applications of Large Language Models, and programming languages like R, Python, and Structured Query Language (SQL).

Yura Choi is currently an undergraduate researcher at CCADD after successfully completing the 2024 Winter Internship Program. She is majoring in Chemistry at Kyung Hee University. During her internship, she participated in developing a deep learning-based Drug-Drug Interaction (DDI) prediction model, utilizing protein information to enhance model performance. Through this project, she gained hands-on experience in data processing, programming, and predictive modeling. She continues to explore various approaches to DDI prediction modeling and has a growing interest in ADMET prediction and PK/PD modeling. She aims to apply AI-powered data analysis to contribute to novel drug development strategies and innovations. 

Seoyoon Jang is enrolled in the Integrated Ph.D. Course at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science (MMBS), Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University. She previously worked as an undergraduate researcher at CCADD after completing the 2024 Winter Internship Program. Seoyoon Jang majored in Systems Biotechnology at Chung-Ang University. Her research interests include generating real-world evidence (RWE) from real-world data (RWD) using electronic medical records (EMR) and AI-based drug development. Through her internship, she became proficient in R, and during her undergraduate research experience, she further developed her research skills by working with a variety of LLM models.

Nayoung Ku is currently an undergraduate researcher at CCADD, following the successful completion of her internship program. She is pursuing studies in life science and AI convergence at Handong Global University, with a previous Bachelor's degree in psychology. Nayoung specializes in developing prediction modeling and optimization algorithms with diverse datasets.

Her research includes work at the Biodata Laboratory developing cancer diagnostic machine learning models, and she received the Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Award at the JUMP AI 2024 Drug Discovery Competition for her team's work on IRAK4 inhibitor prediction.

Seeun Park is a Master’s student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science (MMBS), Graduate School of Convergence Science, Seoul National University. She previously worked as an undergraduate researcher at CCADD after completing the 2024 Winter Internship Program. She majored in Bioengineering at Yonsei University. She was able to gain knowledge and hands-on experience on artificial intelligence for clinical drug development by the project “Improving the Generalizability of Natural Language Process Models to Extract Drug Safety Information from Clinical Notes”. With passion in healthcare and safety, she focuses on exploring clinical pharmacology and regulatory science more specifically Real-World Data (RWD) and policy analysis in Korea. It is her goal to work on expertise for the improvement of disease prevention and control.

On Friday, December 27, 2024, the 2024 CCADD Year-End Workshop was successfully held at the Seoul National University (SNU) Yongon Campus. The event was attended by Prof. Howard Lee, CCADD members, interns, and alumni. Notably, Research Professor Yoona Choi joined the event in person, while Prof. Asa Johansson and Dr. Tae Kyu Chung participated online, adding an international dimension to the program.

The workshop began with a brief icebreaking session, followed by a series of meaningful presentations. The first presenter, Yunjin Choi, shared her growth and learning experiences over the past six months in her presentation titled “The Serendipitous Road: Lessons from the Past 6 Months.” Next, Yujin Kim reflected on her first year as a graduate student, highlighting her research projects, achievements, and key takeaways. In the afternoon session, Junghyun Won provided a retrospective on her 4.5 years as a graduate student, offering valuable insights into the diverse experiences of graduate life.

The main session reviewed CCADD's accomplishments in 2024, celebrating the research group's growth and achievements. Prof. Howard Lee commended the group’s continued success in research and publications. The workshop then shifted its focus to 2025, with a session outlining a roadmap emphasizing emerging AI concepts and innovative research ideas aligned with the latest trends.

Three special lectures added depth and inspiration to the workshop. Dr. Tae Kyu Chung, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Francisco, delivered a lecture titled “Postdoc Diaries: A Glimpse of Life in the US,” offering a vivid account of his life and research abroad, which resonated strongly with the audience. Research Professor Yoona Choi reflected on her year as a research professor at Child Cancer and Rare Disease Project, Seoul National University Hospital. Her presentation detailed the challenges and achievements of her rigorous research journey, offering valuable insights for fellow researchers. Prof. Asa Johansson from Uppsala University delivered a lecture titled “Pharmacoepidemiology in the Era of Precision Health,” introducing the latest developments in precision medicine and pharmacoepidemiology. Her session provided an opportunity for attendees to exchange ideas with an international expert.

The workshop concluded with an inspiring speech by Prof. Howard Lee, who has been serving as the Dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at SNU. Prof. Lee praised CCADD's remarkable achievements throughout 2024 and expressed his strong support for the group’s ambitious goals in 2025. The 2024 CCADD Year-End Workshop provided members and alumni with a valuable opportunity to strengthen their relationships, exchange ideas, and align on a shared vision for the journey ahead.