KU-KAIST Joint Symposium Explores Cutting-Edge Medical Science and Clinical Medicine
KU (President Kim Dong-one) and KAIST (President Lee Kwang-hyung) held a joint symposium at Medical Building #1 of the College of Medicine at KU in Anam-dong on Thursday July 18.
KU and KAIST signed a research cooperation agreement on November 7 last year to strengthen Korea’s global research competitiveness and create synergetic effects. Specific areas of cooperation include medical science and clinical medicine, hydrogen energy, quantum technologies, advanced biotechnology, and cybersecurity.
The symposium, centered on issues in medical science and clinical medicine, was attended by faculty members, researchers and students working in these fields in both universities, as well as KU President Kim Dong-one, KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, KAIST Executive Vice President for Research Lee Sang-youp, and KU Executive Vice President for Research Yoo Hyuck.
KU President Kim Dong-one began the symposium with his welcome address, in which he said, “KU and KAIST have embraced each other in order to help solve humankind’s problems and increase Korea’s global research competitiveness. We hope that the two schools continue to carry out academic exchanges in their efforts to conduct valuable research that can positively affect the world.”
Next, KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung gave a congratulatory speech, saying, “We look forward to seeing the two schools establish an organic cooperative system in the research areas where they have strengths in order to solve the problems of the world and make significant contributions to the enhancement of Korea’s global research competitiveness.”
Lee Heon-jeong, the head of the KU’s Office of Research Management, chaired the symposium, and eight professors from the two universities, including Professor Jang Woo-young from KU Anam Hospital and Professor Ye Jong-chul from KAIST, gave talks about their joint research projects in the fields of medical science and clinical medicine. These talks were followed by a panel discussion on the promotion of research cooperation between the two schools.
The topics presented in the symposium focused on the joint studies currently being conducted in fields such as nano-medicine in orthopedics, digital medicine using wearable devices and artificial intelligence, and medicine-engineering cooperation in the era of healthcare AI, as well as other areas that are being discussed as directions for future collaboration.
Park Jin-hyeon, a student from the Department of Healthcare Information at KU, said, “The symposium allowed me to have a glimpse of future healthcare technologies, as it provided in-depth discussion of customized therapeutic approaches combining mathematical modeling, AI, and wearable technology, and the potential of digital medicine.” Kim Jeong-hwan, a student from the Department of Medical Science at KU, said, “The symposium gave me a fresh understanding of how generative AI will bring about innovative changes in healthcare, and the need for medicine and engineering to become closely intertwined in order to achieve this goal.”