Hyejung Won is an associate professor in the Department of Genetics and the Neuroscience Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her B.S. in biology and her Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

The Won lab leverages genome-wide approaches to bridge the gap between genetic risk factors and neurobiological mechanisms. The lab integrates genomic technologies—including massively parallel reporter assays, CRISPR-mediated genetic perturbation, Hi-C and single-cell genomics across postmortem human brain tissue, human neurons and animal models to map genetic variants of unknown function to their target genes and to define how dysregulated gene regulation contributes to disease pathogenesis. The overarching goal of the lab is to develop a systematic understanding of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.

Won has received numerous honors, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, McKnight Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award, NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship, Junior Faculty Development Award and HHMI Gilliam Fellowship. She also serves as Principal Investigator for several large-scale collaborative efforts, including the PsychENCODE Consortium, the IGVF Consortium, the SCORCH Consortium and the PGC Functional Genomics Working Group.