ISSUE 6

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Keyword in Modern Healthcare: Integration

we are privileged to feature Dr.Kwang Tae Kim, the president of International Hospital Federation(IHF), a leading worldwide body for hospitals and healthcare organizations. A the current CEO of Daerim St, Mary's Hospital in Korea, he also served as the president of Korea Hospital Association and Asian Hospital Federation.

Dr. Kim is undoubtedly one of the most highly respected physicians in the global community with a strong vision in healthcare. He has background in both clinical medicine and hospital administration and has actively participated in numerous humanitarian and vocational services. Dr. Kim was a keynote speaker at our WKMO Convention held in New York City last year. He impressed me most with his humility, thoughtfulness and depths of vision towards global health. He told us then, the key word representing IHF is 'Integration'; that modern medicine needs to integrate new data and knowledge for the advancement of healthcare

Integration is the same very keyword representing WKMO, WKMJ and NYHF, all aimed to bring diversity and new avenues of collaboration in all branches of healthcare. Healthcare today has evolved as a complex, challenging interdisciplinary field. Whether you are a physician, scientist, engineer, businessman, lawyer, or policy maker, we are all in this together to navigate the healthcare in today's ever-expanding multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. To do this properly, we need to integrate the essence of various expertise and develop new perspectives.

As a continuance of our effort to develop new perspectives in global healthcare, WKMO is planning its 4th Annual Convention titled 'Trans-cultural Healthcare: Global Initiatives', which will be held during July 2-4 in Los Angeles. This convention will provide a platform for all of us to explore, interact, and establish a wholesome networking where we find innovative approaches to deal with a myriad of today's healthcare issues.

As excellent article in this issue 'Personalized Medicine' by Dr. Joe McMenamin is a great example illustrating the need of integration. Hippocrates must have also realized the need of personalized medicine when he said 'It is more important to know which kind of person suffers from a certain disease than knowledge from which disease somebody suffers'. The successful integration of a model scientific achievement such as pharmacogenomics into mainstream medical practice requires efforts from all fields. In addition to the roles of policy makers and healthcare authorities, physicians also need to play a leading role in implementation and operation of new tools. Primary care providers, for instance, need a thorough understanding of pharmacogenomics so they can utilize the test results appropriately in clinical setting. The lack of preparation by the healthcare providers may otherwise interfere with the process of the integration of genome medicine into mainstream clinical practice.

Thank you again for joining WKMJ community, and happy reading !

Chul S. Hyun, MD, PhD

Publisher

President of WKMO

Weill Cornell Medical College

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

Dear Colleagues,

It has been a busy year for WKMO with a regional forum in London in March. Enjoyed meeting with Korean UK Medical Association (KUMA) President Dr. Hyunick Kim and their members. The Keynot speaker Professor Paul Matthews of Imperial College recently visited Korea and what is remarkable is that the English National Health System is ranked as second most efficient and cost-effective compared to the America which is ranked as the last in 12 country studied, was impressed with the Korean medical system and sees potential of UK and Korean collaboration. if you are good you can still get better. He was also impressed with Korean medical students that are school in England and meeting some of them i concur.

This issue we feature Dr. Kwang-Tae Kim who is the current President of the International Hospital Federation(IHF). Dr. Kim has a full career and he is the first Asian President of the IHF. Globalization of all disciplines include Medicine which is changing so fast and the IHF has the opportunity to improve healthcare delievery at cost effective manner is a challenge every country is facing. Hearing him speak at the WKMO meeting last year in NY he is well up to the challenge. We congratulate Dr. Kim and wish him a successful IHF meeting.

The 4th annual WKMO Annual Convention is coming up this July 3-4th holiday weekend in Los Angeles in the Beverly Hills area. The convention will have four interesting forums on Transcultural healthcare and Global Initiatives. One forum is on Hepatitis a common but treatable condition amongst Koreans. There will a forum on imaging and digital technology which is transforming healthcare. Another is a neurology psychiatry forum called the Brain as it requires two specialties to treat its many myriad disorders, and one talk that will be particularly interesting will be by Dr. Charles Cho of Stanford that is a talk on Immortality which will focus on research in living longer. The last forum will be Healthcare around the world and we will hear from speakers from different countries including North Korea. We have very special guest speaker Dr. David Roh who is the Dean of the first international medical school in North Korea thru PUST which is landmark medical opportunity to teach and improve healthcare in the Hermit Kingdom. We have many great speakers and there will be something for everyone, including a talk by Dr. Paul Song on the Affordable Care Act and its effects on Korean Americans. Please join us and interact with Korean physicians from all corners of the world. I personally welcome you all to Los Angeles.

David Y. Ko, MD

Editor in Chief

Board Director of WKMO

Keck School of Medicine of USC