KAIST to Lead Pandemic Response and Bio Initiatives with Science and Technology Medical School 추진

Introduction of Graduate School of Medical Science Achievements on the 12th
"Training Physicians Combining Science and Technology with Clinical Practice"

"To prepare for another pandemic and properly develop the bio high-tech industry, it is essential to nurture physician-scientists who conduct both scientific research and clinical practice."

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 12th that its Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, which has been operated as a pilot program to train physician-scientists, is running successfully, and based on this, it plans to establish a Graduate School of Science, Technology, and Medicine. It pointed out the need to overcome barriers such as medical school quotas and expand the systematic training of physician-scientists who combine clinical practice with cutting-edge research.

Since establishing the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering in 2004, KAIST has trained 184 physician-scientists. It was the first science and engineering university in Korea to implement a physician-scientist training program (Ph.D. degree) aimed at training leading researchers among medical doctors, accounting for more than half of the physician-scientist training in Korea over the past 30 years.

Currently, the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering has 28 faculty members with diverse academic backgrounds in medicine, life sciences, natural sciences, and engineering, conducting multidisciplinary convergence research and education with an annual budget exceeding 33 billion KRW. More than 100 SCI-level papers are published annually from the graduate school. The quality of these papers is also world-class. The average FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact) of published papers reaches 3.59, while the average FWCI of the top 20 universities worldwide is 2.06.

Important research achievements have been continuously produced through problem-solving approaches. A representative example is the research conducted by Professor Shin Ui-cheol of the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Shin’s team identified the characteristics of the human immune response to the virus while seeking COVID-19 countermeasures, contributing to the development of treatment strategies for COVID-19 patients.

Additionally, Professor Kim Jin-guk designed diagnostic processes based on data science, proposing methods to detect rare diseases early through genomic analysis and develop patient-tailored therapeutics. Professor Kim’s achievements have garnered global attention as a significant breakthrough in treating intractable diseases. Professor Park Jong-eun’s research team succeeded in developing ‘smart immune cells’ for novel cancer treatment using big data analysis powered by artificial intelligence. The starting point of Professor Park’s team was also data science and AI. Through collaborative research within KAIST, the team built a gene expression database for millions of cells and developed deep learning algorithms to identify differences in gene expression patterns between tumor and normal cells.

Moreover, faculty members and graduates of the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering have been founding deep-tech bio ventures. A notable example is Professors Joo Young-seok and Lee Jung-seok, who co-founded Genome Insight. Genome Insight developed the world’s first whole genome sequencing (WGS)-based precision cancer diagnosis platform and relocated its headquarters to San Diego to actively expand overseas. Recently, they launched the WGS-based cancer precision diagnosis service ‘CancerVision’ in the United States. In addition, about ten faculty members, including Professor Kim Pil-han (iBeam Technology) and Professor Lee Jung-ho (Sovagen), have founded six companies. Physician-scientist graduates have also launched various startups such as Oncocross, an AI-based pharmaceutical development solutions company.

The excellent research achievements of the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering have led to high evaluations of its faculty and students. Professor Ko Kyu-young (Distinguished Professor) received the 2023 Korea’s Top Scientist and Engineer Award and is currently serving as a research director at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) alongside Professor Shin Ui-cheol. Three faculty members were selected for the Korea Research Foundation’s Individual Basic Leader Projects, and four were chosen for the Seokyeongbae Science Foundation’s Young Researcher Support Program. Graduates have received numerous awards for young scientists over recent years, including the Bunshi Medical Award, Asan Medical Award in the Young Medical Scientist category, and Yeonggang Academic Award.

Based on KAIST’s strong global network, the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering has actively engaged in international exchanges. In April, it signed MOUs in Boston with world-renowned research hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) of Harvard Medical School and biotechnology company Moderna. Building on this, it plans to continue international cooperation through joint research and personnel exchanges with bio-medical institutions located in Boston to train physician-scientists.

Physician-scientists remain insufficient in Korea. Currently, physician-scientists account for less than 1% of all doctors in Korea, which is far lower compared to advanced countries like the United States. Moreover, while recognition of the role of physician-engineers?who develop efficient diagnostic and therapeutic processes and methodologies beyond basic clinical research?is growing, training of physician-engineers is almost nonexistent. Both types of talent are necessary to build a bio-health industrial ecosystem. Considering that research, diagnosis, and drug development using AI and big data will become commonplace, the urgent need to train physician-engineers capable of engineering approaches to medicine is increasing.

Significant changes are already occurring in the industry. Bio-medical care is no longer the exclusive domain of pharmaceutical companies or large hospitals. The main drivers of the current paradigm shift in bio-medical care, known as ‘digital healthcare,’ are the so-called ‘big tech’ companies such as Apple, Google, IBM, Amazon, and NVIDIA. In Korea, major IT companies like Samsung are also joining this trend and actively entering the bio-medical field. However, Korea struggles to keep pace with global trends due to a shortage of physician-scientists and physician-engineers who solve bio-medical problems based on science and engineering.

In response, KAIST plans to establish the Graduate School of Science, Technology, and Medicine (GSTM) to prepare for the major transformation of the medical industry. The goal is to train physician-engineers equipped with scientific and engineering literacy from the medical education stage and subsequently develop MD-data engineers, AI experts, electronic engineers, and drug developers through doctoral programs.

KAIST explained, "The reason for establishing GSTM is that the current Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering alone cannot fully respond to the future bio-medical environment," adding, "The Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering is a program operated for medical doctors who graduated from conventional medical schools and has achieved excellent results in life sciences research, but its achievements in engineering are still limited."

It continued, "Since the academic background of researchers at the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering is medicine, it is difficult to freely utilize rapidly advancing engineering resources to the extent that even specialists find it challenging to keep up, and it is hard to quickly apply the latest technological achievements to the medical field. GSTM aims to nurture talents with medical literacy based on science and engineering," it added.

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