Simone Punchak

Simone Punchak is a first-year student in the Huntsman Program, studying International Studies and Business with a target language in Korean. Her journey in Korean Studies began when her first grade best friend from Seoul sparked her curiosity about the global world. This early exposure led her to study Korean formally through a Korean weekend school during high school and later as a participant in the U.S. State Department’s NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative for Youth) program. While living in Seoul during NSLI-Y, she was deeply attuned to the contrasts between South Korea’s healthcare system and that of the U.S. At Penn, she continues her Korean language studies while actively engaging in health equity and global orientated initiatives as a member of the Guatemala Health Initiative, Penn Global Medicine, and Perry World House Student Association. She is particularly interested in the intersection of culture, policy, and public health outcomes in Korea and abroad, and hopes to pursue a career that unites them together following graduation. As a Kim Center Undergraduate Fellow, Simone looks forward to research that reflects her interdisciplinary interests. She hopes to use this opportunity as a way to dive further into researching healthcare within South Korea. However, different from her usual pursuits, she is equally interested in researching trade relationships, national security, and the economic status of either South Korea or North Korea.