Young-hee Shim graduated from the Department of English and Sociology at Seoul National University, and received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Southern Illinois University in the U.S. She spent time at Bielefeld University in Germany as a researcher, was a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York, and a visiting professor at Beijing University. She has been a professor at the Hanyang University Department of Sociology and Law, a chair professor, and currently is an Professor Emeritus. She served as president of the Korean Association of Women's Studies and as co-representative of the Women Making Peace, an NGO. She has started an on-line cafe for FMD patients (https://cafe.naver.com/jmfmd), where FMD patients and their families can help and encourage one another with information-sharing and self-help tips.