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SK heiress leaves for US to study bioscience

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By Baek Byung-yeul

Chey Yoon-chung, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's oldest daughter
Chey Yoon-chung, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's oldest daughter
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's oldest daughter will leave for the United States to do an in-depth study in bioscience, which has been regarded as a new growth engine for the country's third-largest conglomerate, the group said Wednesday.

According to the group, Chey Yoon-chung, 30, recently received an admission to join Stanford University's biomedical informatics graduate program, which will kick off in September.

Biomedical informatics is a part of the school's bioscience program, designed to solve challenging problems across the entire spectrum of biology and medicine by implementing computational methods. It is comprised of training in biology, medicine, computer science, statistics, data science and other related fields.

The group said the heiress's decision to study biomedical informatics in the U.S. is related to her background.

Chey Min-jeong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's second daughter
Chey Min-jeong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's second daughter
Chey studied biology at the University of Chicago and worked as a consultant at Bain & Company from 2015 to January 2017. Since 2017, she has worked as a manager at SK Biopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary specialized in the research and development of new drugs.

It is too early to say whether she will work for the drug-making affiliate after finishing her study in the U.S., but her move can be interpreted as a tactical decision considering the affiliate's growing footprint in the group.

The pharmaceutical affiliate has been gaining attention as it succeeded to produce an outstanding achievement in the U.S.

In March, the company's sleep disorder drug, named solriamfetol, became Korea's first indigenous drug for the central nervous system to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It said the drug is used in the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness. SK Biopharmaceuticals said it started selling the drug in the U.S. starting July.

SK hynix also said Wednesday that the chairman's second daughter Min-jeong will join the group's semiconductor unit beginning Friday.


"She will start working at SK hynix's international trade & regulatory affairs unit in Washington, D.C., starting Friday," a company official said elaborating the unit is responsible for the chipmaker's international trade and policy affairs.

The second daughter once made headlines for joining the Navy after graduating from Beijing University in 2014 to become the first woman from a chaebol family to serve in the military. After being discharged from the Navy in 2017, she worked at Hony Capital, a Chinese private equity firm, for about a year.

Based on her diverse experience, SK hynix said she "will take charge of jobs dealing with international management, trade and regulatory policy issues."

Baek Byung-yeul baekby@koreatimes.co.kr


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