Hee Jung Chung is an associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Her research interests include neurological and behavioral disorders.

Education 

• B.S., Cornell University, 1995
• Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2002
• Postdoc, University of California, 2002-2009

• 2014: James E. Heath Award for excellence in teaching in Physiology, University of Illinois 
• 2013-2014: Targeted Research Initiative for Severe Symptomatic Epilepsies Grant Award, Epilepsy Foundation 
• 2011-2013: Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award, March of Dimes Foundation 
• 2011-2014: Carver Young Investigator Competition Award, Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust 

Research interests:

• Neurological and Behavioral Disorders

Epilepsy is a common chronic brain disorder that is caused by excessive brain activity clinically characterized as seizures. About 40% of epilepsy is associated with genetic mutations. The cause for the rest of epilepsy is unclear. Since ion channels are critical regulators of neuronal activity, the goals of my research program at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) have been to (1) understand how epilepsy mutations affect ion channel function and lead to hyperexcitability in inherited or de novo epilepsy, and (2) identify molecular mechanisms that alter ion channels to cause hyperexcitability in acquired epilepsy.