FROM THE PUBLISHER
Welcome to the 28th edition of the World Asian Medical Journal. This issue encompasses a captivating cover story featuring an interview with Dr. Huang, a distinguished medical professional whose journey from Harvard Medical School to his current roles reflects a commitment to holistic care.
Dr. Huang’s reflections on diverse hospital settings, including Critical Access Hospitals (CAH), highlight their paramount significance in addressing healthcare challenges in rural areas. As the Executive Medical Director, he shares innovative approaches taken at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health System to provide comprehensive care across multiple states.
In addition to his medical endeavors, Dr. Huang’s philanthropic contributions, particularly the founding of the Bolivian Street Children Project/Kaya Children International, showcase a dedication to addressing the healthcare needs of vulnerable children. Readers are invited to support organizations like Project Suma, which continues this vital work.
The discussion on health inequities in the United States provides valuable insights, with Dr. Huang emphasizing the importance of addressing social determinants of health. His perspectives on cultural competence, mental health stigma, socioeconomic disparities, and language barriers contribute to the ongoing dialogue on improving population health.
In this issue, we focus on the bio-health industry’s new trends, including insightful articles published by BiopharmaTrend, a specialized digital hub for news, articles, business intelligence and market research in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare technology industries. Dr. Chul Hyun and Sabina Lee contributed to the edition by providing their viewpoints and insights.
DoHyun Cho, PhD
Publisher
President & CEO of W Medical Strategy Group
Chairman of New York Health Forum
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The January issue of World Asian Medical Journal, #28, features a wide-ranging interview with ChiCheng Huang, MD, Section Chief of Hospital Medicine and Associate Professor of Hospital Medicine at Atrium Health Wake Forest Medical Center. Dr. Huang provides us with insights into his fascinating career, profoundly influenced as it was by his experience early on at a refugee camp in Serbia, under the aegis of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and soon thereafter at an orphanage in Bolivia. His care of street children in La Paz and El Alto was particularly formative, and, it seems, harrowing; the understanding he developed prompted him to publish When Invisible Children Sing and, later, to build a home for them there.
Dr. Huang touches on his involvement with and the importance of community and critical access hospitals, and of academic medica centers. He stresses cultural competence, mental healthcare, punctuality, and addressing such challenges to care as language barriers and the social determinants of health.
As a result of his experiences early in life, young Chi Huang abandoned his original plan to become a diplomat like his father and to become a doctor instead. Dr Huang’s gratitude towards his parents, and for the opportunities they made possible for him, pervades his discussion, as he emphasizes his debt and his lifelong commitment to repaying it through service to others. Dr. Huang suggests it was this commitment that led to his being awarded the Taiwanese Humanitarian Award, and it’s difficult to challenge his conclusion.
While we are confident you will enjoy reading Dr. Huang’s interview, do not neglect any of the Journal’s other offerings, such as Dr. Chul Hyun’s comment on CDC’s guidelines on chronic hepatitis B (CHB) here in the United States, Sabina Lee’s book review of (no relation) Peter Lee’s “The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond,” or the issues’ biopharma reports. You’ll be glad you did.
Happy new year, and happy reading.
Joseph P. McMenamin, MD, JD, FCLM
Editor in Chief
EVP of W Medical Strategy Group
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