Dr. Lee Woo-yong, director of Samsung Medical Center Cancer Hospital and a professor of colorectal surgery, will serve as the new president of the International Society of University Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ISUCRS). He will serve a two-year term starting Sunday.

Lee served as ISUCRS's general affairs director in 2018 and was elected its president in 2020. He will succeed Dr. Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, chief of the colorectal surgery department at King's College Hospital, London, U.K.

Supporting the new president and overseeing the society's general affairs will be Liliana Bordeianou, a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of the Colorectal Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a world-renowned expert in colorectal cancer.

Korea's status in the global colorectal community has also increased significantly.

The biennial ISUCRS conference, which opened on Thursday, brought experts in colorectal disease worldwide to Seoul for the first time in 14 years since it was first held in Korea in 2010.

Lee also serves as the president of ISUCRS 2024, the society’s 32nd academic conference, which will continue through Saturday at the Grand Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul.

Notably, the journal published by the Korean Society of Coloproctology was recognized as the official journal of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Coloproctology in 2019.

“Korean doctors have often been underestimated in world conferences due to the weakness of being late to the game, but recently, an atmosphere is forming in academia that prioritizes objective competence,” Lee said. “I am going to be the foundation for creating more opportunities for the further development of Korea’s medical care, which is the world's envy.”

ISUCSR was founded in 1962 as the leading medical organization for colorectal disease. Its members include medical personnel of 449 university hospitalists in 81 countries who treat colorectal disease.