FROM THE PUBLISHER
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the World Asian Medical Journal (WAMJ)! I am immensely delighted that WAMJ has fnally come into fruition, and am very proud of the editorial board and staff members who have made this launch possible.
Last March marked fve years since the frst publication of the World Korean Medical Journal (WKMJ) back in 2014. Over the span of 18 issues, the magazine has become a platform for Korean healthcare professionals across the globe. While WKMJ has focused on the growth and competitive nature of Korea as a medical hub, we have witnessed the larger region of Asia emerge as the world’s newest healthcare block. As such, we have decided to refect this signifcant wave of change into our publication by expanding our coverage and republishing the magazine as the World Asian Medical Journal (WAMJ).
Our new expansion does not only refect changes in our regional coverage, but it also incorporates newly added contents and values. In WAMJ’s upcoming editions, the publication will address sustainability, community, and justice, building upon our original themes regarding innovation and advancements made in the therapeutic world.
As the Cover Story of our inaugural edition, we feature an exemplary and inspiring leader in the medical arena, Dr. Joanne Liu, International President of the non-proft organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders. MSF is an independent, international humanitarian organization whose mission is to provide medical assistance to populations affected by conficts, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. In this issue, Dr. Liu shares the importance of healthcare professionals’ engagement with underserved regions and populations. Her words show the stark reality of several ongoing crises we face today, but she also demonstrates the determination that we all need in order to contribute to the betterment of our world.
In this edition’s Special Report, we devote an article remembering the late Dr. Waun Ki Hong and his contributions, titled: “In Memory of Dr. Waun Ki Hong, the Physician-Scientist who Transformed and Redefned Cancer Treatment.” Last January, the cancer medicine feld and the medical community at large lost Dr. Hong, a legacy and past President of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), who passed away at the age of 76. With this issue’s Special Report, we hope to give our readers a look into the great achievements of one of our predecessors in the feld of medicine.
In preparation for WAMJ’s launch, we have also composed a new editorial board which includes 23 eminent physicians, industry executives, and other well-respected healthcare professionals to fulfll our mission. With that, I conclude this letter with a warm wish that WAMJ will continue to be informative, inspiring, and amusing to our readers.
DoHyun Cho, PhD
Publisher
President & CEO of W Medical Strategy Group
Chairman of New York Health Forum
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Welcome to the inaugural issue of the World Asian Medical Journal, the successor to the World Korean Medical Journal. Just as the WKMJ provided a forum for Korean health care professionals and those of Korean descent, the WAMJ aims to do the same for professionals from all East Asian nations. After all, W Medical Strategy Group has long benefted its clients with its special knowledge and contacts not just in Korea, but throughout East Asia. Hence, the WAMJ is a logical extension of the WMKJ. This evolution is apparent even in this, WAMJ’s frst issue, which continues the WMKJ tradition of profling prominent physicians and industry leaders.
Somalia. Afghanistan. Syria. These are among the world’s most underserved and dangerous countries. They are also among the 70 nations that, throughout its history, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) has assisted, sending urgently needed doctors, nurses, medicines, food, and supplies to places from which some of their personnel, sadly, never return.
In this issue, we interview Joanne Liu, M.D., C.M., the pediatric emergency physician now completing her term as President of MSF. She continues her field work, alongside other providers both from MSF and from the communities served. Dr. Liu describes some of the desperate conditions her organization faces in areas where disease is rampant, but care is scarce, not least because, too often, belligerents kill indiscriminately. Even apart from live fre, the countries MSF serves often face abject poverty, unsafe water, and severe malnutrition. Death can come quickly. MSF overcomes challenges that most health professionals never face. MSF and Dr. Liu’s story is inspiring.
As we read in Ecclesiastes, however, there is a time to be born and a time to die. In this issue, we mourn the loss earlier this year of Waun Ki Hong, M.D., past division Head and Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, past President of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), and a Samsung Distinguished University Chair in Cancer Medicine. Dr. Hong’s extraordinary achievements are a model to all those privileged to care for the sick.
Readers of our predecessor journal, the World Korean Medical Journal, will remember the story we did on Dr. Hong in its 12th edition. It would be diffcult to name a better choice, then or now, for a profle in a publication such as ours. It is only ftting, then, that we note his passing and remind ourselves what we can accomplish when we draw on the best within us, as Dr. Hong did throughout his exemplary life.
We hope you will enjoy this and all subsequent issues of WAMJ.
Joseph P. McMenamin, MD, JD, FCLM
Editor in Chief
EVP of W Medical Strategy Group
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