PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Hyeokhyen Kwon

Also known as Hyeok Kwon

Hyeokhyen Kwon is a computer scientist who builds machine learning, computer vision and wearable-sensing systems for patient-centered healthcare AI. After a B.Eng. at Sogang University and an MS at KAIST, he introduced IMUTube at Georgia Tech in 2020, a pipeline that turns videos of human activity into virtual sensor data, and defended his Ph.D. dissertation in 2021. At Emory, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Gari Clifford, published an explainable network that scores freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease in 2023, and saw IMUGPT named a best paper finalist at Ubicomp/ISWC 2023. He co-founded the BRAINS center in December 2025 and was awarded an NIH R01 grant in August 2026 for AI-driven clinical decision support in movement disorders. He is an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Emory University School of Medicine and directs the ViTAL Lab.

Now at
Emory University School of Medicine, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and Georgia Institute of Technology
Badges

Timeline

  1. 2016

    A Samsung Ph.D. scholarship

    In 2016, he is awarded a Samsung Ph.D. Scholarship. He holds a B.Eng. in electronic engineering from Sogang University and an MS in electrical engineering from KAIST, where Yu-Wing Tai and Jun Tani supervise his thesis on RGB-guided sparse coding for depth map and hyperspectral image upsampling.

  2. 2020–2025

    IMUTube and its patent

    In 2020, he is first author of IMUTube, an automated pipeline that converts videos of human activity into virtual streams of IMU data, published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. Catherine Tong, Harish Haresamudram, Yan Gao, Gregory D. Abowd, Nicholas D. Lane and Thomas Ploetz are his coauthors. A US patent on the method, first published as application US20220066544A1 in 2022, is granted in February 2025 as US12236616B2, with Kwon among the inventors.

  3. 2021

    A Georgia Tech doctorate

    In September 2021, he defends his Ph.D. dissertation, "Deriving Sensor-based Complex Human Activity Recognition Models Using Videos", in computer science at Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing, co-advised by Thomas Ploetz and Gregory D. Abowd. He is named a finalist for the Gaetano Borriello Outstanding Student Award at Ubicomp 2021.

  4. 2022

    Oracle for Research awards

    In April 2022, he is named a finalist in Oracle's Research Fellows program, and in June 2022 he receives an Oracle for Research Project Award. The award comes during his postdoctoral fellowship in Emory's Department of Biomedical Informatics, where he works with Gari Clifford and J. Lucas McKay.

  5. 2023

    Explainable AI for freezing of gait

    In 2023, he is first author of a paper in Sensors on an explainable spatial-temporal graphical convolutional network that scores freezing of gait in parkinsonian patients, with Gari Clifford and J. Lucas McKay among the coauthors. The work applies explainable deep learning to 3D kinematic motion analysis of freezing of gait in Parkinson's patients.

  6. 2023–2024

    IMUGPT and language-based transfer

    His IMUGPT work, which integrates generative AI, cross-modality transfer and wearable-based human activity recognition, is a best paper award finalist and earns an honorable mention at Ubicomp/ISWC 2023. In 2024, he coauthors IMUGPT 2.0 with Zikang Leng and Thomas Ploetz, which adds a motion filter and diversity metrics to language-based cross-modality transfer.

  7. December 2025–August 2026

    BRAINS and an NIH R01

    In December 2025, he co-founds the Center for Brain and Behavior AI for Neurohealth Science and Support (BRAINS) with Samaneh Nasiri, and the two serve as co-directors. In August 2026, he is awarded an NIH R01 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for AI-driven clinical decision support for movement disorders.

  8. As of October 2026

    Assistant professor at Emory

    He is an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University School of Medicine, hired through Emory's AI.Humanity initiative, and directs the ViTAL Lab, whose patient-centered AI research uses machine learning, computer vision and wearable devices to tackle healthcare challenges. He becomes affiliated with the joint Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in March 2024, Georgia Tech's Machine Learning Center in April 2024 and its Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience in February 2025.

Career

  1. Since 2024Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
  2. Since 2024Georgia Institute of Technology
  3. NowEmory University School of MedicinePostdoctoral Fellow
  4. From 2025Center for Brain and Behavior AI for Neurohealth Science and SupportCo-founder, Co-director

Education

  1. 2021Georgia Institute of TechnologyPh.D.
  2. Sogang UniversityB.Eng.
  3. KAISTMS

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Hyeokhyen Kwon yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Hyeokhyen Kwon, Ph.D. | ViTAL Lab kwonvitallab.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. News | ViTAL Lab kwonvitallab.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. [2006.05675] IMUTube: Automatic Extraction of Virtual on-body Accelerometry from Video for Human Activity Recognition arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Research | ViTAL Lab kwonvitallab.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. US20220066544A1 - Method and system for automatic extraction of virtual on-body inertial measurement units - Google Patents patents.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. [2402.01049] IMUGPT 2.0: Language-Based Cross Modality Transfer for Sensor-Based Human Activity Recognition arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Hyeokhyen Kwon | GT Biomedical Engineering bme.gatech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Faculty Directory | Emory University | Atlanta GA aihumanity.emory.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.