JW Group Holds Seongcheon Award Ceremony... 'Schweitzer for the Homeless' Choi Young-a, Director of Medical Cooperation Center at Seoul Metropolitan Seobuk Hospital, Honored

At the 10th Seongcheon Awards ceremony held on the 21st at the JW Group headquarters, Lee Jong-ho, Chairman of the JW Foundation for Academic Welfare (Honorary Chairman of JW Group), and the award recipient Choi Young-ah, Head of the Medical Cooperation Center at Seoul Metropolitan Seobuk Hospital, are taking a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The Jungoe Academic Welfare Foundation, a public interest foundation of JW Group, held the Seongcheon Award ceremony and announced on the 22nd that it awarded a prize of 100 million won and a plaque to Choi Young-ah, Director of the Medical Cooperation Center at Seoul Metropolitan Seobuk Hospital.

Director Choi, driven by the mission that "doctors must go where diseases are most prevalent," declined offers for university hospital professorships after obtaining her internal medicine specialist qualification in 2001 and devoted over 20 years to providing free medical care to the homeless. In 2002, she co-founded the Dail Angel Hospital in the back alleys of Cheongnyangni with Pastor Choi Il-do, known as the "Bapper Pastor," and served as the medical director. At that time, Director Choi was the hospital's only doctor, living in the nearby staff quarters and caring for more than 100 homeless people day and night.

Since then, instead of enjoying a stable life as a doctor, Director Choi continued her medical volunteer work for medically vulnerable groups. From 2004, she worked as a full-time volunteer doctor at Joseph Clinic in the Yeongdeungpo goshiwon area of Seoul, and in 2009, she established the Dasi Seogi Clinic within the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center, which supports the homeless in front of Seoul Station, and created the women's homeless shelter called 'Mother House.'

In 2015, she published the social medicine professional book "Disease and Poor Life," analyzing the major diseases of the homeless she treated and proposed medical care and support policies for their social reintegration. In 2016, she founded the "Recovery Sharing Network" to aid rehabilitation and recovery, and since 2017, she has continued treating homeless patients at the public medical institution Seoul Metropolitan Seobuk Hospital.

Director Choi said, "I am honored to be selected as the recipient in the meaningful year marking the 10th anniversary of the Seongcheon Award," and shared her acceptance remarks, "Caring for the homeless has always been a familiar life to me, but with the heart that 'doctors must be by the patients' side,' I will continue to provide medical care to the homeless."

The Seongcheon Award was established in 2012 to honor the life-respecting spirit of the late Seongcheon Lee Gi-seok, founder of JW Jungoe Pharmaceutical, and to discover exemplary medical professionals who serve as role models in society. Each year, one true medical professional who has silently devoted themselves in the shadows and contributed to the advancement of human welfare is selected.

Mr. Seongcheon founded Joseon Jungoe Pharmaceutical (now JW Jungoe Pharmaceutical) in 1945 and operated the company with the philosophy that "if a medicine is necessary for the health of the people, it must be produced." To fulfill corporate social responsibility, he devoted his life to laying the foundation of the domestic therapeutic pharmaceutical industry, including domestic production of intravenous fluids in 1959, which had been entirely imported at the time.

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