ISSUE 11

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Dear Colleagues,

I hope everyone had a great summer as the fall is just beginning. Serving as the president of the World Korean Medical Organization, this summer was very meaningful for me in that it held a forum in the Halls of US Congress. The meeting was featured in the past WKMJ issue on Global Health Disparities because of its innovativeness. Also in this summer, some Korean physicians met with Korean congress over the issue of limiting SSRI for depression by non-psychiatrist to 60 days and they sought out international opinion. We were able to help in that arena with Dr. Tai Yoo who organized Korean Mental Forum on prior WKMO meeting. Next year, we hope to hold a forum in Korea on various health issues.

In this 11th issue, WKMJ features a prominent Korean American physician Dr. Augustine Choi, who spoke at the World Korean Medical Organization meeting in New York a few years ago with many international Korean medical students. He specifically encouraged the students to find their passions and to pursue them. Dr. Choi is a Chairman and Professor of Cornell Medical Center Department of Internal Medicine. He is also a Physician in Chief of Weill Cornell Medical Center. He was recently appointed interim Dean and interim Provost of Weill Cornell Medical School of Cornell University. His interview highlights the triple threat of an academic physician as educator, researcher and clinician. Dr. Choi embodies all that but also the highest medical leadership that Deans and Provost hold in the University.

The entrepreneurial physician interview is with Dr. Leon Reyfman who is the CEO of Advanced Clinical Laboratory Solutions (ACLS). Laboratory testing is such an important facet of modern medical care and the need for rapid and cost effective testing is an area that he saw there was a need. ACLS has special expertise in drug testing and toxicology that has grown to be an epidemic problem and hopefully these tests will help practitioners and patients navigate appropriate drug use and avoid abuse. ACLS is also focusing on pharmacogenomics testing which is truly in the path of providing optimized individualized care.

In closing, this year’s Presidential election process in America is a historic one for many reasons, including Dr. Ben Carson entering the fray and hopefully he will inspire other physicians to politics.

David Y. Ko, MD

Publisher

President of WKMO

Keck School of Medicine of USC

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

After Eli Lilly announced their Open Innovation Drug Discovery (OIDD) platform several years ago, many multinational companies have adopted the idea of open innovation. Ideas, policies, strategies, and behaviors sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. Malcolm Gladwell once wrote “they are social epidemics.” Couple of days ago, Allergen’s CEO Brent Saunders has stepped forward to issue the “Saunders Manifesto” on his Allergan CEO blog. Titled as “Our Social Contract with Patients”, Saunders’s commitments include fair pricing of drugs and enhancing accessibilities to medicines. If other companies follow Allergan’s lead, pharmaceutical industry can start to clean up its reputation and earn some respect from the world. Social epidemics and outbreaks in pharma world can be started following Saunders’s lead on transparency, accessibility, and innovation.

Through the edition 11 of WKMJ, we have interviewed another leader in therapeutic world, who has brought positive changes and synergistic model of science leadership. Dr. Augustine Choi, who is the Chairman of the Weill Cornell Medicine, Physician-in-Chief for New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and dean for Cornell School of Medicine, showed us three major sectors in medicine - research, medical education, and clinical care - can be harmonized by well-orchestrated leadership. Dr. Choi shared his story and insight with our readers, and anticipated bright future by saying, “I am optimistic about the future of medicine as we work together with fellow researchers and physicians around the globe, so we may move forward, expand our horizon, and push our limits in caring for our communities.”

For the Entrepreneur Interview, we featured Dr. Leon Reyfman, CEO of Advanced Clinical Laboratory Solutions, Inc. who shared significant importance of toxicology testing to physicians and patients.

Addition to these two major articles, we have rich selection of articles which will bring amusement to our readers. Hoping to see more leadership like Saunders’ and Choi’s in the therapeutic world in near future.

Thank you.

DoHyun Cho, PhD

Editor in Chief

President & CEO of W Medical Strategy Group

Chairman of New York Health Forum