Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym University delegation headed by Dr. Hae-Ran Lee, president of Hallym University Medical Center (HUMC), attended "The Norman Bethune International Medical Forum 2009" at Jilin University, Changchun, China, on September 24, 2009. The meeting is to celebrate the 70th birthday of Norman Bethune College of Medicine of Jilin University.

As many as 600 Chinese and foreign medical professionals participated in the forum including those from Johns Hopkins University, University of California, University of Tokyo, University of Sydney and Karolinska Institute. Representing Hallym, Dr. Yun Joong Kim, professor of neurology, talked about "Genetics for Parkinson's Disease in Korea," and Dr. Sung-Hee Ihm, professor of endocrinology and metabolism, dealt with "Islet Cytoprotection for Better Islet Transplantation on Outcome."

"Today, we've discussed various issues in regenerative medicine, which turned out to be contributory to broadening the horizon of our understanding of medical science and medical standards of the world. I do believe that by sharing our knowledge and experiences together, we will be able to move forward in finding solutions to current medical issues," Dr. Lee said at the forum.

Hallym's relations with Jlin date back to 2007 when the two universities entered into an international affiliation agreement. Since then, Hallym has been carrying out student exchange programs. Hallym expects that this visit will serve as an excellent springboard for further advancing the collaborative ties with Jilin at the level of universities and their hospitals.

By Younghee Han, Int'l Operations Team, HUMC (symposium@hallym.or.kr)