Michael & Joan Kim · 2022 Honorees

When Michael Kim first came to Grubb’s Pharmacy as a student intern in 1997, he was dismayed by the shabby interior and rundown look of the place. But he quickly noticed something else – the interaction between then-owner Ed Dillon and his customers was personal in a way unlike what he had seen in chain store pharmacies. For Michael, it was like watching an old TV show about what a community pharmacy used to be. Since purchasing Grubb’s in 2006, Michael and his wife, Joan, have been building on the tradition of personalized care that began on the corner of 4th and East Capitol Streets over 150 years ago, dispensing and delivering prescription medications, providing medical equipment and supplies, flu shots, HIV drugs, tubes of toothpaste, jars of vitamins, homeopathic and natural remedies, even medication for pets. They have taken steps to keep waiting times short, created a private space where they can offer sympathetic listening and wise counsel, met the Covid crisis with an outdoor shed for testing and vaccinations, worked to create a healthy environment for their employees, and put a fountain and benches in their welcoming small front yard garden. 

Michael and Joan are both of Korean heritage. Michael and his parents immigrated to this country when he was three years old. His mother and father, who had been a chef in Korea, operated small carry-out restaurants in Baltimore for over 30 years. Michael went to high school in Laurel, participating in after-school martial arts, and from there to the University of Maryland and on to Howard University to obtain his doctorate in pharmacy. Joan grew up in Seoul but spent part of her childhood in New York City where her father was an executive representing a Korean steel company. She returned to Korea for middle and high school but after she had started college at Seoul University, her father’s work again brought him to the U.S. and again Joan came. She enrolled at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and hoped to attend medical school but the expense was daunting. Joan transferred to St. John’s University College of Pharmacy where she obtained her pharmacy degree.

Fate seems to have destined Michael and Joan for each other. Although neither disclosed that they were pharmacists, they found each other on Match.com. She was then living and working in Manhattan and he was in Laurel, but they made the effort to meet. It worked and they married in 2003. Each brought two children from a previous marriage into the family and they quickly had two more boys. Benjamin and Timothy are in high school, Dennis and Heather have graduated from college and Kevin and Grace are following in their parents’ footsteps, preparing to become the next generation of caring pharmacists.