“New infectious diseases will keep emerging. We needed research infrastructure to pre-emptively respond to new infectious diseases. So, I proposed establishing an infectious disease screening center at the hospital.”

In April, the Catholic University of Korea Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital became the first Korean university hospital to open an infectious disease examination center. The center will handle infectious disease screening and diagnosis, clinical performance tests, and infectious disease research.

Professor Lee Je-hoon of laboratory medicine at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital speaks during an interview with Korea Biomedical Review.
Professor Lee Je-hoon of laboratory medicine at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital speaks during an interview with Korea Biomedical Review.

Korea Biomedical Review met with Professor Lee Je-hoon of laboratory medicine at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital, who leads the infectious disease screening center. Professor Jo Sung-jin of the same department also joined the interview.

The outbreak of Covid-19 was shocking to Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital because it suffered the first university hospital infection in the early stage of the pandemic.

However, the incident helped Eunpyeong St. Mary’s establish an infectious disease control system and quarantine measures faster than any other university hospital.

“Going through the pandemic, I felt the need for pre-emptive screening of new infectious diseases. We needed capabilities to identify a new infectious disease and diagnose it as soon as possible,” Lee said. “I thought that in a war against a new infectious disease, we could win only when we distinguish our troops from the enemy, arm with weapons such as treatments and vaccines.”

Lee thought “responding” to the infectious disease was not enough. The new infectious disease screening center will not only detect infectious diseases but conduct basic research and clinical studies to develop homegrown devices to diagnose the disease, he said.

Since the hospital ran the first PCR test for Covid-19 on Feb. 10, 2020, it has conducted over 150,000 tests until March.

Based on this testing experience and the establishment of the new center, the hospital plans to conduct trials to develop in-vitro medical devices more actively.

It was relatively easy to carry out a retrospective study on already-collected samples.

However, it was challenging to enroll participants in in-vitro medical device studies because users had to participate directly in the trial, Lee noted.

Despite such challenges, the hospital collaborated with Rapigen, a Covid-19 test kit maker, to obtain the nation’s first Covid-19 home test device last year. In 2021 alone, the hospital ran clinical trials working with over 10 companies.

Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital is also working on studies of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. “Our hospital has a portfolio of ‘total solutions’ to deal with infectious diseases including Covid-19,” Lee emphasized.

Eunpyeong St. Mary’s will work with the Catholic University of Korea’s Laboratory Medicine Department to speed up infectious disease research.

“Our hospital has experience conducting a multi-center trial with Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, and Uijeongbu St. Mary’s Hospital.

If multiple institutions participate in a trial, we can produce better results quickly,” Lee said.

As hospitals under the Catholic Medical Center can get a sample transport system offered by Samkwang Medical Lab, Eunpyeong St. Mary’s will make use of it fully.

Professor Jo Sung-jin of laboratory medicine at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital.
Professor Jo Sung-jin of laboratory medicine at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital.

Professor Jo, who joined the interview, said he was confident that the new center would play its befitting role as the first infectious disease screening center at a local university hospital.

“As the infectious disease screening center will conduct tests and research, it will need clinicians’ help absolutely,” Jo said.

He added that professors of infectious disease, pulmonology, and pediatrics within the hospital said they would actively participate in the center’s activities, and the center would expand academic exchanges with specialists.

The infectious disease screening center will have a project management system to realize the values pursued by Eunpyeong St. Mary Hospital, Jo added.

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