Professor Lee Jeongho of KAIST Receives 'Yonsei Chorak Medical Award'

Severance Hospital announced on April 17 that Professor Lee Jeongho of the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) has received the 8th Yonsei Chorak Medical Award.

At the awards ceremony of the 8th Yonsei Chollak Medical Award held on the 10th at Eunmyung Auditorium, Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Professor Lee Jeongho (fourth from the left) is taking a commemorative photo with Yonsei University President Dongseop Yoon (center) and Yonsei Medical Center Director Ki-chang Geum (fourth from the right). Severance Hospital

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The Yonsei Chorak Medical Award is a medical prize jointly established by the Yongwoon Scholarship Foundation and Yonsei University College of Medicine to continuously advance basic and translational medicine in Korea. In 2023, the name was changed from the Yongwoon Medical Award to the Yonsei Chorak Medical Award to honor the wishes of the donor. Since the 6th award, recipients have also been supported to hold academic events, namely the Yonsei Chorak Medical Forum.

Notably, starting with this 8th award, the prize money has been increased from KRW 50 million to KRW 100 million at the suggestion of the foundation.

Professor Lee introduced a new concept that the direct causes of intractable brain diseases such as epilepsy, brain tumors, and Alzheimer’s disease may be acquired mutations, or 'mosaicism,' originating from neural stem cells. He further identified the molecular biological mechanisms underlying these diseases, developed new genetic diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, and successfully exported these technologies. As a result, he became the first Korean to receive the Innovators in Science Award, organized by Takeda and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Recently, Professor Lee has published research findings on the origin and evolution of malignant brain tumors in renowned international journals such as Science and Cancer Discovery. He has also published over 60 papers in globally recognized journals including Nature and Nature Medicine in the field of somatic brain mutation research. These research results are also scheduled to be presented at this year’s 3rd Yonsei Chorak Medical Forum.

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