Sleep Medicine · Digital Health · Community Practice

Younghoon Cho, MD, MS

Technology expands access. Longitudinal relationships are what change outcomes.

A community-based physician in sleep medicine and otolaryngology, and a digital-health researcher in Seoul — now building toward the next chapter of that work in the United States.

U.S. Permanent Resident Board-Certified Otolaryngologist · Korea Certified in Sleep Medicine ECFMG Certified
Younghoon Cho, MD
2,794
Polysomnography
studies
699
Research
citations
9
Registered
patents
14+
Years in
clinical practice
About

The diagnosis was never the hard part.

For over a decade I built a community sleep and ENT practice from the ground up. A precise diagnosis, I learned, means little without someone to carry it forward — to follow up, adjust, and stay with the patient across years.

Sleep apnea, weight, blood pressure, mood, adherence — none of these resolve in a single visit. That belief has run through every part of my career, and it is the thread I am following as I move toward comprehensive, longitudinal care in the United States.

2014 – 2019

Intern & Otolaryngology Resident · Seoul National University Hospital

Rotating internship followed by full specialty residency and Korean board certification — the clinical foundation.

2017 – Present

Clinical Research · Digital Health & Medical AI

Asking how diagnostics can reach more people. Published in The Lancet Digital Health, Scientific Reports, JMIR, and the International Journal of Cardiology; author of a general-audience book on medical AI.

2019 – 2022

Medical R&D & Industry · Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center, Medical AI

Continued ENT clinical care while leading medical R&D — turning research into products, building new healthcare ventures, and putting clinical AI into practice.

2022 – 2024

Medical Device Squad Lead · Asleep Inc.

Led an AI sleep-apnea diagnostic to Korean MFDS Class 2 clearance with Innovative Medical Device designation — turning research into a tool clinicians can use.

2022 – Present

Founder & Medical Director · Clionic Lifecare Clinic

A community sleep and ENT practice delivering longitudinal, English-language care to an international patient population.

2023 – Present

U.S. Veteran Disability Evaluation Physician

Hundreds of VA Compensation & Pension examinations to U.S. protocols — U.S. medical records, U.S. documentation standards, U.S. clinical expectations.

Next

The United States

Bringing this work into comprehensive, whole-person primary care in an American community.

Education
  • 2017 – 2019M.S., Otolaryngology — Seoul National University College of Medicine
  • 2005 – 2011M.D. — Seoul National University College of Medicine
National Service
  • 2011 – 2013Mandatory national service — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, North America & European Union Trade Division

Focus

Where the work lives.

01

Sleep-disordered breathing

Diagnosis through management — CPAP and APAP titration, oral appliance therapy, and behavioral intervention. More than 2,794 polysomnography studies interpreted to AASM standards, as a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

02

Adherence & continuity

The hard part of sleep medicine isn't the diagnosis — it's keeping patients in care. I build structured follow-up and patient-education workflows designed to sustain CPAP adherence and symptom tracking over years, not visits.

03

Digital health & validated technology

Led an AI sleep-apnea diagnostic to regulatory clearance, validated consumer sleep trackers against clinical polysomnography, and am named inventor on nine registered patents in sleep and health technology — technology that extends access without standing in for the clinician.

04

Care inside the U.S. system

Years of U.S. veteran disability evaluations to VA protocols, with English-language documentation, prior authorization, and appeals to CPT and ICD-10 standards — fluency in how American care is documented and reimbursed.

Each of these is a way of asking the same question: how do you keep a patient in care long enough for the medicine to matter?


Research

Diagnostics you can trust, where care happens.

My research keeps returning to one question: how do you make diagnostics trustworthy and accessible enough to belong in everyday, ambulatory care?

699
Citations
8
h-index
7
i10-index
12+
Publications

Media & Talks

Beyond the clinic.

Book

Understanding Medical AI — Will AI Replace Doctors?

Yeomungak · 2024 · sole author

A general-audience book on what medical AI can and cannot do in everyday care.

→ View on Kyobo Books
Selected talks & conferences

Also engaged at HIMSS (Orlando), CES, and the American Telemedicine Association meeting (Boston).

Selected press & video

Featured across Korean national media — including Hankyung, JoongAng Ilbo, and Medigate News — on medical AI, sleep technology, and digital health, with an ongoing series of patient-education videos on ENT and sleep health.


From patients

What care feels like.

Excerpts from genuine reviews left by patients on Google.

See more reviews on Google →
Get in touch

Open to clinical conversations, collaboration, and opportunities in the United States.

U.S. permanent resident — no visa sponsorship required.