Haejoo Chung정혜주
Professor of Health and Social Policy
Division of Health Policy & Management, Korea University
Director, Institute of Health Policy & Management, Korea University
International Faculty Affiliate, Centre for Global Social Policy, University of Toronto
I study the politics and policy of population health: how political choices and welfare-state institutions decide who gets to be healthy, and how health and social care can be redesigned to be more just. I work with multi-level and mixed methods to build the evidence that policy needs.
Trained first as a clinical pharmacist at Seoul National University and then in health and social policy, I earned my PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, served as a research scientist on the Employment Conditions Knowledge Network (EMCONET) of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and held a CIHR IHSPR Postdoctoral Fellowship in political science at the University of Toronto. My current work centres on smart healthy cities, health justice, and the comparative politics of health.
What I work on
My research asks how macro-social forces — politics, welfare states, labour markets, and the design of cities — translate into the health of populations, and what evidence policy needs in order to change those outcomes.
Health is a political outcome
Policy has an address.
Health is produced by political choices about how a society organises its institutions. Political factors shape the welfare state, which takes form as labour market regulation and as the provision of health and social care; these act through mediating conditions — employment conditions and access to care — on the spatial distribution of risk that becomes population health and equity. Access works differently from the rest: it does not move the distribution of risk so much as govern how far that risk is translated into ill health, and so meets the pathway between risk and outcome — shifting it through social care, moderating it through health care. Above the whole field sits the Healthy City Atlas, a place-based layer of spatial data and analytics — a channel, not a cause — and the evidence it generates feeds back into policy.
Journal & platform
Health Politics
A diamond open-access journal (free to read and free to publish) at the intersection of politics, policy, and health, issued by the Division of Health Policy & Management, Korea University, and co-edited with Carles Muntaner.Online ISSN 3092-5517 · first issue March 2026
Healthy City Atlas
A decision-support atlas that turns urban health data into evidence for policy, built with local governments and partner universities under the HADES project (Healthy City Atlas for Decision-Making Enhancement System).
University
- 2026–2028Interim Dean, University College학부대학장 서리
- 2025–Director, Institute of Health Policy & Management보건정책관리연구소 소장
- 2021–2027Vice-Director, Institute of Sustainable Development지속발전연구소 부소장
- 2021–2022Chair, Professors’ Council, College of Health Science보건과학대학 교수의회 의장
- 2020–2025Director, BK21 FOUR R&E Center for Learning Health Systems4단계 BK21 러닝헬스시스템 융합교육연구단 단장
- 2013–2021Director, BK21 PLUS Program in "Embodiment: Health–Society Interaction"3단계 BK21 인간생명–사회환경 상호작용 융합사업단 단장
- 2013–2014, 2022–2024Chair, Division of Health Policy & Management보건정책관리학부 학부장
Academic societies
- 2027President, Academy of Critical Health Policy건강정책학회 회장
- 2025–2027Co-Chair, RC25 Politics of Health PolicyInternational Political Science Association
- 2025–2026President, Korea Association of Social Policy한국사회정책학회 회장
Editorial roles (international)
- 2026–Co-Editor-in-Chief, Health Politics
- 2023–Editorial Consultant, International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services
- 2013–2023Editorial Consultant, International Journal of Health Services
Public service & advisory
- 2025–Member, Advisory Committee on Sickness BenefitMinistry of Health and Welfare · 보건복지부 상병수당 쟁점검토 자문단 위원
- 2023–2027Member, Advisory Committee on Fiscal PolicyMinistry of Economy and Finance · 기획재정부 재정정책자문회의 위원
- 2023–2026Member, Academic CommitteeKorea Healthy Cities Partnership · 대한민국건강도시협의회 학술위원
- 2017–Member, Central Medical Aid Review CommitteeMinistry of Health and Welfare · 보건복지부 중앙의료급여심의위원회 위원
- 2021–2023Member, Sickness Benefit System Planning Advisory CommitteeMinistry of Health and Welfare · 보건복지부 상병수당 제도기획 자문위원회 위원
- 2020–2022Member, Presidential Commission on Policy PlanningInclusive Society Division · 대통령직속 정책기획위원회 위원 (포용사회분과)
- 2020–2021Member, Advisory Committee on the Korean New DealMinistry of Economy and Finance, Safety Net Division · 기획재정부 한국판 뉴딜 자문위원회 위원
- 2019–2023Vice-Chair, Seoul Paid Sick Leave Support Advisory Committee서울형 유급병가지원 자문위원회 부위원장
- 2018–2020Member, Special Committee on Healthcare, Presidential Commission on Jobs대통령직속 일자리위원회 보건의료특별위원회 위원
- 2017–2021Member, Specialized Committee on Evaluation, Social Security CommitteeMinistry of Health and Welfare · 사회보장위원회 평가전문위원회 위원
Honours & awards
- 2026Seok-Tap Teaching Award석탑강의상 · Introduction to Health Policy (보건정책학), Korea University
- 2016Seok-Tap Research Award석탑연구상 · top 3% research performance, Korea University
- 2016Outstanding Program, BK21 PLUSMinistry of Education · 인문사회기반융합 분야 우수사업단
- 2011–2013Research Support Award for Outstanding InvestigatorsCollege of Health Science, Korea University
- 2011Outstanding Journal Article Award in Social ScienceNational Research Foundation of Korea, for “Employment relations and global health”
- 2006Ten best papers on early childhood developmentCentre for Excellence in Early Childhood Development, Canada
- 2006CIHR IHSPR Postdoctoral FellowshipInstitute of Health Services and Policy Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- 2006Research Associateship AwardComparative Program on Health and Society, Munk Centre, University of Toronto
- 2004Health and Social Justice Student Poster CompetitionSpirit of 1848 Caucus, American Public Health Association
Get in touch
- hpolicy@korea.ac.kr
- Office (current)
- Room 533, Woodang Hall for General Education
Dean’s Office, University College · 우당교양관 533호
+82-2-3290-1269 - Faculty office
- B-365 Hana Science Hall
하나과학관 B동 365호
+82-2-3290-5675 - Lab
- Health & Social Policy Lab
B-364 Hana Science Hall
하나과학관 B동 364호 - Address
- 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea