The First Yonkang Academic Award: Fostering Medical Researchers for the Next Generation

The Yonkang Foundation launched the Yonkang Academic Award to promote the further development of medicine and promote research efforts by scholars in Korea. The first award winner was rewarded with prize money of KRW20 million.

Research by Chang Hwan Yoon (Director of Aerospace Medicine Division, Air Force Aerospace Medicine Center; member of the Internal Medicine Department, Seoul National University Hospital, at the time of the research) and 13 co-authors were selected as the first Yonkang research projects at the First Yonkang Academic Award ceremony, held in the Seoul Press Center at 7PM, June 20, 2006.

There was a great deal of heated interest in the Award from young professionals in medicine; a total of 42 research works by 32 scholars were submitted for review in the Yonkang Academic Award competition, although this was the first year of the competition, for which the application period was limited to two months.

Professor Geon Sang Kim (Chairman of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor of Medical Informatics at College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University), a member of the jury for the Yonkang Academic Award, stated, "Some applicants submitted 3~4 research works, and that definitely showed how passionate and dedicated these young scholars are. Quite a few of the submitted research works exhibited scholarly excellence in many respects, and this made it difficult for us to make the final decision. The Award-winning research was selected based on the uniqueness of the idea and the model brilliance within which the idea was developed."

The Award-winning research was published in the medical journal Circulation in September 2005. It identifies two types of endothelial progenitor cell deduced from adult stem cells, a topic scarcely developed in Korea. The study also points to the possibility for neovascular treatment by mixed transplantation of the two cell types. It was written by 13 co-authors including Chang Hwan Yoon, and was referred to by Professor Hyo Soo Kim of the Seoul National School of Medicine.

President Yong Hyeon Park emphasized, "We are desperately in need of base studies that can be applied to real-life practice in Korea as is the case overseas," adding, "I hope that the Award will give a positive reinforcement to researchers in the medical sciences and contribute to medical development in Korea."

※ The 1st Yonkang Academic Award Winning Research :

"Synergistic Neovascularization by Mixed Transplantation of Early Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Late Outgrowth Endothelial Cells: The Role of Angiogenic Cytokines and Matrix Metalloproteinases"