Asan Foundation Holds the 17th Asan Medical Awards Ceremony

Director Changjun Lee of the Institute for Basic Science and Professor Wonyoung Kim of Seoul Asan Hospital Receive Awards

On the 21st, the Asan Social Welfare Foundation will hold the 17th Asan Medical Awards ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

(From left) Changjun Lee, Director of the Institute for Basic Science, Wonyoung Kim, Professor at Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Inkyung Jung, Professor of Life Sciences at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Takgyu Oh, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. [Image source=Asan Foundation]

Lee Chang-jun, director of the Life Science Research Cluster at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), was selected as the winner in the basic medical science category, and Kim Won-young, professor of emergency medicine at Ulsan University College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, was selected in the clinical medical science category. Each awardee will receive 300 million KRW.

In the young medical scientist category, Jung In-kyung, professor of life sciences at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Oh Tak-gyu, professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, were honored as recipients. Each will receive 50 million KRW.

Lee Chang-jun, the winner in the basic medical science category, was recognized for his research on astrocytes, star-shaped non-neuronal cells that make up more than half of brain cells but were only known to support neurons. His work suggested the potential for treating intractable brain diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Kim Won-young, the clinical medical science awardee, has devoted over 20 years as an emergency medicine specialist to improving treatment methods for critically ill emergency patients with cardiac arrest, sepsis, ischemic brain injury, and acute respiratory failure. He was acknowledged for raising the cardiopulmonary resuscitation survival rate in the emergency room of Asan Medical Center to nearly 30%, six times the national average of 5%.

Jung In-kyung, who receives the young medical scientist award given to medical scientists under 40, decoded the three-dimensional genome map and identified mechanisms by which disease genes related to Parkinson's disease and cancer are activated. Oh Tak-gyu was highly evaluated for his research on the actual state of opioid analgesic abuse in Korea, highlighting the need for prescription guidelines.

The Asan Medical Awards were established in 2008 to encourage outstanding domestic and international medical scientists in the fields of basic and clinical medical sciences. The Asan Foundation has established the Asan Medical Development Fund worth 40 billion KRW to support the awards and the research activities of the recipients for the advancement of Korea’s medical science community.

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