Yumi Briones

Featured on March 19, 2023

Joining us this week is multi-hyphenate Yumi Briones—chemist, researcher, and CEO extraordinaire!

Yumi graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the Ateneo de Manila University, receiving summa cum laude honors and finishing as the valedictorian of her class. She later took up her Masters in Chemistry at the same university, with her thesis exploring the anticancer action of ampalaya or bitter gourd. After graduating, she taught chemistry at her alma mater and later on went to place third in the national chemistry licensure exams.

Today, Yumi wears many hats—for instance, not only is she a researcher at the University of the Philippines, but she also works on bacteriophage therapies at The Medical City’s Biomedical Research Unit. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Savon Cleaning Solutions, a startup that sells sustainable powdered hand soap.

Here are a few fun facts about Yumi:

1. She is half-Korean (mom’s side) and half-Filipino (dad’s side).
2. Her favorite show is Breaking Bad.
3. She has a YouTube channel named Professor Yumi.