Joy Kim is a Ph.D. student in Human Nutrition working in Dr. Marla Lujan's lab. She earned a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and went on to complete a dietetic internship at the NIH Clinical Center, concentrating in clinical nutrition research. After earning her registered dietitian (RD) credential, she worked as a Research Associate at Texas A&M University in the Vanden Brink Lab, where she studied the role of nutrition and metabolic health on reproductive maturation during adolescence. Joy is passionate about nutrition and women’s health, leading to her current work focused on the intersections between genetics, nutrition, metabolic health, and ovarian function in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). She is motivated by the goal of advancing understanding of how lifestyle factors and dietary interventions influence the prevention and management of PCOS to improve clinical care. 

Joy’s research during her doctoral program in Dr. Marla Lujan’s lab broadly examines the relationships between diet, metabolic health, and reproductive health in women of reproductive age with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Lifestyle intervention, which largely includes diet modification, is recommended as a first-line treatment for PCOS. However, although certain metabolic benefits of these interventions are accepted, the reproductive benefits remain unclear. As such, she aims to understand the factors that contribute to successful reproductive response to lifestyle interventions, with a primary focus on ovulatory outcomes assessed through robust sonographic evaluation of ovarian morphology. She is also interested in understanding how habitual dietary patterns are associated with ovulatory function in women with PCOS, with the goal of identifying modifiable nutritional factors that may contribute to improved reproductive outcomes. Outside of her human nutrition concentration, Joy is minoring in Reproductive Physiology and Molecular Biology.

Below are select publications. For a full list of my publications, please visit my Google Scholar page (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7jeqOF8AAAAJ&hl=en).  Gadiraju, M.*, Kim, J.Y.*, Green, E.M., Burgert, T.S., MacMillan, Uribe. A., Vanden Brink, H. (In Press) Barriers and facilitators to dietary behavior change and goal setting in adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome. Frontiers in Nutrition. *Co-first authorship  Vanden Brink, H., McCormick, K. C., Lujan, M. E., Chang, J., Ipp, L., Mudrak, E. L., Alladeen, A., Lamar, H., Kim, J. Y., & Mendle, J. (2025). Psychological symptoms in perimenarcheal adolescents: association with PCOS risk factors. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 16, 1551958. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2025.1551958  Kazemi, M., Kim, J. Y., Wan, C., Xiong, J. D., Michalak, J., Xavier, I. B., Ganga, K., Tay, C. T., Grieger, J. A., Parry, S. A., Moran, L. J., & Lujan, M. E. (2022). Comparison of dietary and physical activity behaviors in women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 39 471 women. Human Reproduction Update, 28(6), 910–955. https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmac023  Kazemi, M., Kim, J. Y., Wan, C., Xiong, J. D., Parry, S. A., Azziz, R., & Lujan, M. E. (2022). Comprehensive evaluation of disparities in cardiometabolic and reproductive risk between Hispanic and White women with polycystic ovary syndrome in the United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 226(2), 187–204.e15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.07.032  Kazemi, M., Kim, J. Y., Parry, S. A., Azziz, R., & Lujan, M. E. (2021). Disparities in cardio metabolic risk between Black and White women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 224(5), 428–444.e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.12.019