Heesun Chung, Ph.D

Heesun Chung is currently the Director General of National Forensic Service (formerly National Institute of Scientific Investigation) where she has been working since 1978.

She received her B.S.degree in pharmacy from Sookmyung Women’s University (Seoul, Korea) and a master degree and a Ph.D. from the same university in 1983 and 1987. From 1990 to 1991 she held a post-doctoral appointment in the Department of Neuropharmacology, King’s College London in the UK.

She is a member of many local and international scientific groups including The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences(AAFS).

She joined TIAFT in 1990 and has been a board member since 2002 and now serves as a President-elect.

She became the President of International Association of Forensic Sciences (IAFS) and will host the 20th IAFS meeting in 2014.

She hosted the 43rd TIAFT meeting in 2005 and the 3rd AFSN meeting in 2011. Currently, she is a vice president of Asian Forensic Science Network.

Her research interests are analysis of abused drugs in biological fluids and other alternative specimens including hair and impurity profiling of illicit methamphetamine. She has presented her findings at numerous international meetings and symposia and her research has resulted in the publication over 100 scientific articles.

She was honored as the most outstanding woman Scientist of 2007 by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Korea and won the Bichumi Woman Award by Samsung Life Insurance Co. in 2010.