Iris Hyun-A Kim is a second-generation Korean American born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with majors in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, & Society. During her time at Vanderbilt, she served as President of the Asian American Student Association and led the successful effort to establish the Asian American Studies major and minor in 2021 in response to the Atlanta spa shootings.

Following graduation, Iris was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship and spent a year in South Korea studying the Korean diaspora and ethnic return migration. She is currently a medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and will begin training as a Medical Research Scholar at the National Institutes of Health in June 2026. In her free time, Iris enjoys doodling comics, searching for manatees, and training for her first HYROX competition.

Beyond medicine, she enjoys playing guitar, dancing, listening to music, and exploring new restaurants in Kansas City.