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Professor of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital Director in Medical Oncology Program, the Catholic University of Korea
Professor Jin Hyoung Kang graduated from The Catholic University of Korea in 1984 and took an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital between 1984 and 1988. He earned his MS in 1988 and Ph.D. in 1995 at The Catholic University Graduate School. He was a research fellow at Cornell University Medical College, majoring in research on cell adhesion molecules in tumor metastasis. He has been a faculty member of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea since 1993 and a Professor of Medical Oncology since 2004. In 2018, He earned a master’s degree in EMBA Program at Korea Management Business School.
He has published more than 280 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His current research focus is experimental therapeutics and early clinical development of novel target agents and immune-oncology drugs. He discovered a novel driver oncogene, KIF5B-RET, in a Korean NSCLC patient in 2012 and is currently interested in autophagy and tumor microenvironment in cancer research.
Professor Kang has been involved in clinical trials as principal investigator or co-investigator in over 120 clinical trials evaluating novel agents in other malignancies, including lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and malignant melanoma. He is trying to construct a prediction model applying deep learning techniques to multi-omics data curated from lung cancer patients.
Professor Kang has contributed to evaluating novel anti-cancer drugs and the bioequivalent test of generic drugs as an Executive Consultant of MFDS since 2002. He is carrying out the R&D Projects funded by KNCC (Korean National Cancer Center, Cancer Conquer Project) and NRF (National Research Foundation). He was the president of the Korean Cancer Study Group (KCSG) between 2016 and 2021. Currently, he is the Korean Head and Neck Cancer Association president and a member of international scientific societies, including ASCO, AACR, ESMO, and IASLC.
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Prof. Eui-Cheol Shin received his M.D. (1996) and Ph.D. (2001) from Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and his postdoctoral training from NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Then he joined the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, in 2007, where he is currently a professor. His laboratory researches T cell responses in human viral disease and cancer. In particular, they now focus on ‘T cell-mediated immunopathogenesis,‘ ‘senescence of T cells,’ ‘reinvigoration of exhausted T cells,‘ ‘human immune monitoring,’ and ‘immune responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19’. Prof. Shin was elected as a member of The Korea Academy of Science and Technology in 2019.
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Professor Myung-Ju Ahn, with approximately 38 years of experience, obtained her doctoral degree from Hanyang University College of Medicine in 1992. Afterward, she worked as a resident physician at Seoul Asan Hospital before completing a Postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Returning to Korea in 1995, she worked for about 11 years at Hanyang University-affiliated Guri Hospital and Seoul Hospital before joining the Department of Hematology-Oncology at Samsung Medical Center in 2006, where she is currently employed.
Since 2003, Professor Ahn has been annually recognized as one of the most influential researchers worldwide until 2020. She has served as the president of the Korean Society of Medical Oncology and is currently the director of the Korean Association for Lung Cancer. Additionally, she is an active board member of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
Her active involvement in clinical research for the development of novel therapies such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy for lung cancer has been widely acknowledged. She has been honored with the 2018 Boehringer Ingelheim Oncology Award from the Korean Cancer Foundation, the 30th BUNSHI Medical Award from the Korean Medical Association and Boehringer Ingelheim Korea in 2020, and the Adi F. Gadzar Merit Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in 2023.
The Samsung Seoul Hospital, where Professor Ahn works, is renowned both domestically and internationally as a leading medical institution. Known for its state-of-the-art facilities, innovative protocols, and high-level clinical research, the hospital is recognized for treating approximately 12% of cancer patients in Korea.
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Professor Kwon Ho-Keun and his research team at the Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, delve deep into the intricate functions of the immune system, with a particular focus on the role of regulatory T cells.
With postdoctoral research experience from Harvard Medical School, Professor Kwon explores immune response regulation, the development of tolerance mechanisms, and the significance of maintaining immunological homeostasis.
Their research aims to elucidate the origins of inflammatory diseases such as autoimmune disorders, cancer, and neurodevelopmental disorders, ultimately striving to develop therapeutic approaches for these conditions.
Focusing on the actions of regulatory T cells and the interactions between the immune system, gut, and brain (the Immune-Gut-Brain axis), their research endeavors to uncover novel therapeutic strategies that contribute to improving human health.