Sun-Mi grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and obtained Bachelor’s degree with dual majors in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular genetics and Neuroscience at UCLA.  She worked as an undergraduate in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Rome characterizing the ribonucleoprotein, Vaults.  After obtaining a Master of Science degree in Biological Chemistry at UCLA, she started a MD/PhD program at LSUHSC in New Orleans where she worked with Dr. Jay Kolls on deciphering the host immune responses to MRSA pneumonia.  She has recently moved to San Diego for her Allergy Immunology fellowship after completing her Pediatric residency at Washington University’s St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and her fellowship in Allergy-Immunology at UC San Diego, where she has continued on the faculty  Sun-Mi’s research is focused on delineating the role of Staphylococcus aureus in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis.  One hypothesis she have has to test is that S. aureus stimulates nasal epithelial production of Reg3γ, which seeks to targets Gram+ bacteria by binding the peptidoglycan layer, along with allergy-associated cytokine thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and IL-33 that cause hyperproduction of mucins Muc5B and Muc5Ac and a chronic inflammatory state involving neutrophils and aberrantly activated T cells.  She is supported by the UCSD K12 Biomedical Scientist Career Development Program in Glycosciences.