Prof. Yoo Deok-jong wins 2024 JW Sungcheon Award for African service

The JW Lee Chong Ho Foundation, a public trust of JW Pharmaceutical, said Monday that it has selected Professor Yoo Deok Jong of the St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in Ethiopia as the 2024 JW Sungcheon Award recipient.

The JW Sungcheon Award was established in 2012 by the late Honorary Chairman Lee Chong-ho of JW Pharmaceutical to inherit and develop the “respect for life” spirit and philosophy of Lee Gi-seok (Sungcheon in penname), the founder of JW Pharmaceutical, and is now in its 12th year.

The award recognizes medical professionals who are exemplary to society for their quiet dedication and contributions to the welfare of mankind and promotes the importance of respect for life.

Professor Yoo, who was selected as the 12th recipient of the award, has been a physician for more than 30 years, working in medically barren areas, such as Uganda, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and Ethiopia. The JW Lee Chong Ho Foundation selected Dr. Yoo as the recipient of the JW Seongcheon Award in recognition of his efforts to practice the spirit of respect for life through true medical healing in the harsh environment of Africa.

After graduating from Kyungpook National University of Medicine in 1984, Professor Yoo completed his residency in internal medicine at Kyungpook National University Hospital and became a specialist in 1988. Dr. Yoo began his work in Uganda in 1992 as one of the first government-dispatched doctors as part of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) program.

In 2005, Dr. Yoo founded the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Mulago Hospital where he has been treating patients and training medical staff. During his 23 years in Uganda, Yoo trained local medical students and internal medicine trainee doctors, producing about 2,000 physicians and 100 internal medicine doctors.

In 2015, Dr. Yoo spent 10 months as the founding dean of the medical school at Eswatini Medical Christian University where he helped shape the medical curriculum.

In 2016, he spent eight years at Jimma University Hospital in Ethiopia, establishing the Department of Respiratory Medicine and introducing bronchoscopy to the ward.

In addition, Dr. Yoo participated in the “Korean Aid” program in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda where he provided free patient care and donated medical equipment.

In March of this year, he treated patients and trained medical staff in the respiratory ward of St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to treat patients and train medical staff.

“Professor Yoo Deok-jong is dedicated to his patients in the poor medical environment in Africa,” said Lee Sung-nak, chairman of the JW Sungcheon Award Committee and honorary president of Gacheon University College of Medicine. “We selected him as the winner of the 12th JW Sungcheon Award because he fits the purpose of the prize, which is to inherit the spirit of respect for life by improving the local medical system and training medical professionals in various regions.”

This year's JW Sungcheon Award ceremony will be held on Sept. 25 at the JW Pharmaceutical headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.