She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Brown University, and her B.A. in Sociology from Ewha Womans University. She is an expert on the economic and political development of the ROK and East Asia; UN and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); international development cooperation, and globalization. In addition to numerous academic publications, she is co-author of the UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2019, for which she was appointed by the UN Secretary General as one of 15 scientists in the world. She was the first scholar from a Korean university to receive a research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2013–2025) on global public health. She is the recipient of the ROK government’s Order of Service Merit (2025) for life-long service to higher education, and the Service Merit Medal (2012) for contributions to the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan in 2011. She received the Chang-Lin Tien Distinguished Leadership Award from the Asia Foundation, and the Building Bridges Award on behalf of Ewha Womans University from the Pacific Century Institute.