Manyeol Han is an IP Attaché at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. With over 20 years at Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) as a patent examiner, presiding administrative patent judge, and director, he brings deep expertise in patent examination and stakeholder engagement, enriched by a three-year diplomatic assignment in the UAE.

Steven M. Ferguson serves as Special Advisor in the NIH Office of Technology Transfer, where he has worked since 1990. The NIH biomedical technology transfer program is one of the world's largest, with a portfolio of more than 2,000 active licenses generating aggregate product sales exceeding $10 billion annually and research contributing to 53 FDA-approved drugs and vaccines.

Previously a chemist at the National Cancer Institute and a biotechnology industry product manager, Mr. Ferguson holds master's degrees in Business Administration from George Washington University and Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University.

A registered Patent Agent and Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), he has served as faculty and Technology Transfer Department Chair at the FAES Graduate School at NIH and as faculty for the Biotechnology Industry Organization's BIO Boot Camp. He has also served as a reviewer and advisor for numerous federal, state, and nonprofit innovation programs.

Mr. Ferguson has published extensively on technology transfer and has received numerous honors, including the AUTM President's Award, NIH Director's Award, FAES Instruction Award, Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards, and multiple NIH Merit Awards.

Youngmi Ji, Ph.D., is a Senior Staff Scientist at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), with more than 20 years of experience in biomedical and translational research across NIH and the Department of Defense.

Her expertise spans functional genomics, stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, organoid technology, and AAV-based gene therapy. Her research integrates human iPSC and organoid models with functional genomics and gene delivery approaches to investigate disease mechanisms and advance therapeutic development. Her work has addressed a range of clinical challenges, including Sjögren's disease and salivary gland dysfunction, musculoskeletal trauma and heterotopic ossification, and tissue regeneration.

Beyond her research, Dr. Ji is committed to scientific leadership, mentorship, and building collaborative scientific communities. She founded the NIH Translational and Clinical Research Scientific Interest Group (TCR-SIG), bringing together scientists, clinicians, trainees, regulatory experts, and patients. Through TCR-SIG and other scientific community initiatives, she works to foster a collaborative culture in which basic discovery, clinical medicine, regulatory science, and patient perspectives converge to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into meaningful impact for patients.

Chris Hong is a seasoned intellectual property litigator at Baker Botts LLP. He has extensive experience handling high-stakes patent and trade secret disputes before U.S. District Courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He also brings significant patent prosecution experience, enabling him to advise clients across all stages of the intellectual property lifecycle.

Chris has represented clients in matters involving a wide range of technologies, including QLED display systems, integrated circuit design, medical devices, dynamic data encryption, and multi-bitrate content streaming. He has experience representing multiple Korean tech companies in complex U.S. intellectual property matters, helping them navigate IP litigation and patent portfolio management issues.

Prior to his legal career, Chris spent a decade as a product development engineer in the automotive and heavy industries in the United States, Germany, and South Korea. Notably, he worked for five years as an R&D engineer at a major shipbuilding company in Ulsan, Korea. This unique combination of technical and legal expertise allows him to represent clients efficiently and effectively in sophisticated intellectual property matters.

Kaelyn Ong is a Senior Risk Manager with Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit, based in Singapore. With over 12 years of experience in intellectual property protection and investigations, she leads enforcement actions against counterfeiters across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, and supports cases in the United States. In this role, Kaelyn partners with global brand owners and law enforcement agencies to build civil and criminal cases against bad actors who facilitate the sale of counterfeit products in Amazon’s stores. Since joining Amazon in 2017, Kaelyn has held several roles spanning brand protection, product quality, and insider threat investigations. Before Amazon, she managed content protection at the Motion Picture Association, coordinating anti-piracy investigations and enforcement actions across multiple jurisdictions.

Isaac Kang currently serves as Manager of the Overseas IP Cooperation Division at the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency (KOIPA). Previously, he served as IP Consultant for the National Intellectual Property STrategy (NIPST) at the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP).

With over 14 years of experience in IP protection policy advocacy and program management, he has supported companies in resolving IP disputes and advanced national IP protection initiatives through close collaboration with government agencies, industry, and international partners.

Soo MIn Lee serves as the Senior Legal Counsel of the KOIPA Washinton D.C. IP Center. In this role, she administers a government subsidy program that supports Korean small and medium-sized enterprises with U.S. patent and trademark filings, legal opinion letters, and initial responses to IP disputes; provides referrals to U.S. patent attorneys for Korean companies that already export to the U.S. or plan to expand their business into the U.S. market; and delivers education on U.S. IP systems, trends, and emerging issues to help companies anticipate and manage potential conflicts.

Admissions

• Korean Bar (2013)
• Washington D.C. (2024), Maryland (2025)

Hyun Kyung Lee is the president of the PCT Korea Center (IPKC). In Korea. She has worked as a specialist in prior art searches at the Korean Intellectual Property Promotion Agency (KIPRO) for over 13 years, focusing on chemical and biological technologies, including life sciences and biotechnology.

• President of the PCT Korea Center (IPKC)
• PhD. Bio-Sciences
• Prior art search specialist (specialized in technical field of life science and biotechnology)

Mr. Hanjoon Kim is the managing director of Global Business Center - Washington D.C., one of the overseas offices of Korea SMEs and Startups Agency(KOSME), which comprehensively supports small and medium-sized enterprises in various areas such as finance, export, overseas expansion, human resources, and startups.

Mr. Kim, while previously engaged in investment and financing planning, contributed to diversifying policy fund support methods by participating in the launch of an investment project through the acquisition of convertible bonds. He also promoted facility investment by SMEs by differentiating loan interest rates for operating funds and facility funds. Additionally, during his work in planning export and overseas expansion support projects, he was responsible for internal and external cooperation tasks at the Global Headquarters.

Meanwhile, during his tenure in the Planning and Coordination Department, he reorganized the organization to better meet corporate demands and government policy directions, significantly increased the staff size, and while working in the Human Resources Department, he managed personnel for senior positions, including executives, and restructured the salary system.