Tai June Yoo is currently a faculty member at the University Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee.  His numerous faculty appointments include Professor of Medicine, Chief of Allergy-Immunology Division, Professor of Molecular Sciences, Professor of Otolaryngology, Co-Director of Research in Otolaryngology, and Member of the Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Yoo was born in 1935 in Yeo-Ju, Kyungi do and is the fourth of six children.  He is the son of Dr. Heung-Jin Yoo, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and Mrs. Cho-soon Lee.  Dr. Yoo grew up in Seoul and attended Kyunggi High School.  He graduated from the Seoul National University School of Medicine in 1959 and completed 6 months of graduate work in the Department of Biochemistry under Professor Ki-Nyung Lee, Il-Chun.  Dr. Yoo went on to the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, where he received a Ph.D. in Biophysics.  He completed his Internal Medicine house-staff training and Allergy/Immunology fellowship at the Washington Univesity School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; the Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York; and New York University.
Dr. Yoo then served three years as an active-duty military officer during the Vietnam War and was chief of Medical Service at the 121 Evac Hospital, 8th U.S. Army Boo-Pyung for one year.  After his discharge from active service, he joined the faculty of the University of Iowa School of Medicine, Iowa City, and rose to the level of Associate Professor.  In 1980, Dr. Yoo moved to the University of Tennessee and has held his current position for the past 25 years.
During his academic career, Dr. Yoo has trained over 100 post-doctoral fellows.  Many have gone on to become leading professors and scientists in their chosen research fields at institutions all over the world.  Dr. Yoo has published 132 peer-reviewed journal articles, authored 43 book chapters and review articles, and given over 350 lectures and presentations at various conferences and colloquia.
Dr. Yoo’s main research interests for the past 25 years have been the molecular mechanisms of autoimmune hearing loss, including Meniere’s disease.  He has also found the molecular basis of autoimmune hearing loss.  Most recently, Dr. Yoo has established new methods for the restoration of autoimmune hearing loss with the application of therapeutic agents, adoptive cellular gene therapy, and DNA vaccines.  With the success of his animal models, he is now awaiting human trials.  This work could potentially help more than 10% of hearing loss patients worldwide.
Dr. Yoo has also developed DNA vaccines for asthma and is currently working towards human trials.  Current research projects include the continued investigation of autoimmune hearing loss.  He is also performing molecular genomics studies of deafness genes by chemical mutagenisis and has identified of 12 mutant strains of mice which await cloning work.  He has also started work on the development of a therapeutic vaccine or gene therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Dr. Yoo and his wife of 42 years, Marie Ann, have three daughters.  Stephanie, the eldest, is a published author of award-winning poetry and fiction.  Christine is a filmmaker working in both television and feature films.  Kathy, the youngest, is an attorney and a member of the California Bar.  All three daughters reside in Los Angeles, California.  In his spare time, Dr. Yoo likes to take his two loyal dogs, Momo and Pico, on long walks through the neighborhood.  Other hobbies include listening to music.  He hopes to learn to play the saxophone and also learn to sing a few arias.