'Philanthropy, Service, Patriotism Shone'... Gachon University President Kil-yeo Lee Receives 'Lions Humanitarian Award'

Gil-yeo Lee, President of Gachon University

[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Gil-yeo, president of Gachon University, has been selected as this year's recipient of the Lions Humanitarian Award.

The Lions Humanitarian Award is a prestigious honor given by the International Lions Club to individuals or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding humanitarian activities. The Lions Club provides a prize of $250,000 (approximately 300 million KRW) to support the awardees in actively carrying out humanitarian work.

The Lions Club announced that it selected President Lee Gil-yeo, who has devoted himself to medical service and talent development under the banner of "philanthropy, service, and patriotism," as the awardee and will hold the award ceremony at 2 p.m. on the 29th at Namsan J-Grand House in Jangchung-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.

President Lee became the 47th recipient, following notable figures such as Mother Teresa (1986), former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1996), Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus (2008), and Denis Mukwege (2019).

This year's ceremony was originally scheduled to be held in Singapore with about 20,000 Lions members from around the world attending, but the venue was changed to Korea due to the impact of COVID-19.

After graduating from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1957, President Lee opened the Lee Gil-yeo Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic in Incheon in 1958 and has since practiced medical service and sharing through initiatives such as ▲ hospitals without deposits ▲ free cervical cancer screenings ▲ medical volunteer work in underserved villages ▲ operation of hospitals in medically vulnerable areas ▲ free surgeries for overseas children with heart disease.

In particular, President Lee actively engaged in talent development by founding Gachon Medical School in 1997 and later integrating four universities to launch Gachon University in 2012. He also established world-class research institutes such as the Brain Science Research Institute, Lee Gil-yeo Cancer and Diabetes Research Institute, and Bio-Nano Research Institute, significantly contributing to the advancement of basic medical science.

In his acceptance remarks distributed ahead of the ceremony, President Lee said, "Born during the Japanese colonial period, I experienced the sorrow of a country without a nation and decided to become a doctor after witnessing poor people dying without proper treatment." He promised, "Taking this award as an opportunity, I will return to my original intention, care for marginalized patients throughout my life, nurture good talents, and strive harder for the advancement of basic medical science."

Following this award, President Lee announced plans to establish the "Gachon-International Lions Club Medical Volunteer Group" jointly with Gachon University Gil Medical Center and the International Lions Club, pledging to donate the entire prize money to support treatment for children with congenital heart disease worldwide and premature babies in families of foreign workers in Korea.

The Lions Club was founded in 1917 by Melvin Jones, a businessman from Chicago, USA, who advocated "social service by successful people." It is an international social service organization with influential entrepreneurs and professionals as members worldwide. Currently, it operates in over 200 countries with 48,000 units and more than 1.4 million members.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.