Kimm became a physician of
Peking Union Medical College Hospital after graduation. In 1933, American doctors there created the first
cancer ward in China. Kimm became a lead oncologist of the ward next year, making him the first Chinese person to study and practice oncology. In 1937, he was sent to
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
New York to study
pathology under
James Ewing. Around this time, he and C. Szeto published the first description of
Kimura's disease. For this paper and others he published in English, Kim maintained his Korean identity by writing his name in English as "Hyen-taik
Kimm" or "H.T. Kimm". One year later, he went to
Chicago to study clinical oncology, focusing on
radiation oncology and
surgical oncology. In 1939, he returned to Beijing and was promoted to the director of the cancer ward and appointed as associate professor. In 1941, after the
Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese occupied the American-operated
Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing. Kimm and his Chinese colleagues were forced to move to
Tianjin. In 1945, after the end of
World War II, he went to study in
Chicago for more than one year. In 1951, the government of China took over the
Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital established by
John Kenneth MacKenzie in Tianjin. One year later, Kimm established the first cancer ward there, and later turned the hospital into one that specialized in cancer treatments. From 1954, at the request of the
China Ministry of Health, he began to offer oncology training programs annually to nationally selected physicians. Many of his students later turned into leading oncologists throughout the country. He joined the
Chinese Communist Party at the age of 81 and led the establishment of the China Anti-Cancer Association (CACA) around this time. == Death and legacy ==