Dr. Yong-Sun Bahn, who is alumni of the Joe Heitman lab at Duke, has been recently appointed as Underwood Distinguished Professor by Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Yonsei University, one of the most prestigious institutions in Korea, newly appoints eight Underwood Distinguished Professors, including Dr. Bahn, at various research fields based on their scientific and academic achievements. Dr. Bahn will be awarded with monetary incentives and partial exemption of teaching assignment for next three years. Dr. Bahn obtained his PhD degree from Paula Sundstrom’s lab at Ohio State University and was trained as a post-doctoral fellow in the Heitman lab from 2003 to 2006. Dr. Bahn has contributed to functionally characterizing complex signaling pathways governing growth, differentiation, stress responses, and virulence of human fungal pathogens, including Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, through molecular and genetics approaches over several decades and understanding fungal pathogenesis mechanisms. He also made a significant contribution to the microbiology society by serving as editor for a number of journals, including mBio, Eukaryotic Cell, mSphere, PLoS ONE, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, and Journal of Microbiology, and as reviewer for many key papers published in the field of fungal genetics and biology. Dr. Bahn is a leader in Asian and Korean microbiology and mycology societies. He has served on the organizing committees of many international meetings hosted by the Microbiology Society of Korea (MSK), the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology (KMB), the Asian Mycological Congress (AMC), and the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) and thereby contributed to active academic interactions between Asian/Korean microbiologists and other foreign investigators. Due to his scientific contributions, Dr. Bahn received the Medytox Academic Achievement Award from the MSK, the Woojae Academic Award and Scientific Achievement Award from the KMB, the Excellent Research Achievement Award from Yonsei University, and many others. Currently, Dr. Bahn is a tenured professor at Dept. of Biotechnology, Yonsei University and a fellow of American Academy of Microbiology (AAM).