FROM THE PUBLISHER
Korea has been in the forefront of the news in 2017, but unfortunately, the focus is on the war rhetoric between the leaders of the North Korea and the US. As 2018 approaches, the focus of the world will shift to South Korea with the Winter Olympics. The world will gather for the highest level of competition without politics and only the friendly competition with true human drama will remain. In this Winter Olympics, the North Korean figure skating team may join to compete in South Korea. Although relations between the South and the North Korea are icy, hopefully we will see a thaw moment at this Olympics to remind us of our common bond and give us hope of unification that we witnessed in Germany.
In the 15th issue of WKMJ, the cover story and the entrepreneur interviews feature a common theme which involves skin, the largest organ in our body. The cover story interview is with Dr. Henry W Lim, the President of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). In his interview, Dr. Lim highlights skin conditions that arise as we age and as skin damage accumulates over the years. Skin health is very dependent on lifestyles and there is no doubt that it is an important measure of overall health. As Dr. Lim mentioned, using tanning machines or extra sun exposures, in efforts to have a tanned skin, may cause skin damage and even skin cancer. Thus, improving public health education is critical to improve overall concerns and most importantly, patients must be amenable in changing their lifestyles. Over the years, AAD had an increasing international participation and Dr. Lim targets to increase underrepresented minorities in the competitive field of dermatology. Hope Dr. Lim a productive Presidency at AAD.
The entrepreneur interview is with Jinmin Lee, the founder of isoi skincare company from South Korea. Korea has been a leading expert of skin care industry for years. The skin health is affected by many factors including exposure to environmental stressors, physiological processes, as well as daily product use. Skin care products such as deodorants, perfumes, soaps, and makeup may often contain harmful chemicals. Since skin protection and using right products together is the key to promoting healthier skin, isoi’s philosophy of using less chemicals seems prudent. Following the science behind human skin, isoi uses natural skin care additives from plants that are similar to human skin oil. Like a beautiful flower, beautiful skin is easily seen and like botany, maintaining it for as long as possible is the best we can do.
Even when Trump recently visited South Korea, the focus was on North Korea and Trump’s surprise attempt to visit DMZ. His speech highlights the historic but tragic division of North and South Korea and we need to work to undo this. On a final and brighter note, I would like to congratulate Dr. John Oh on his election to be the President of Korean American Medical Association.
David Y. Ko, MD
Publisher
President of WKMO
Loma Linda University
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
For the last decade, many household and personal product manufacturers announced they would reduce or eliminate a range of questionable ingredients from their product lines. As a result, hundreds of cosmetics and personal care products had been reformulated. Non-profit organizations such as Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a nationwide coalition hugely funded by the Breast Cancer Fund, has educated millions of people about the problem of toxic chemicals in cosmetics, which has led to an increased demand for safer products in the marketplace. Evermore strengthened government regulations such as “the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act”, a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2016 and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started to regulate the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. Continuous and recurrent Public Private Partnerships (PPP), had led industry to pay more attention to sustainability of environment and human health and safety. Another driving force for emphasizing human safety has been led by medical community. Medical researchers and clinical practitioners including dermatologists, constantly raised issues with skin safety and product ingredients. As our November edition highlights skin and skin health, we featured leading figures in the arena of skin.
As the Cover Story, WKMJ interviewed Dr. Henry W Lim, MD, FAAD, President of the American Academy of Dermatology. As a physician, his achievements in the area of dermatology had been significant. He navigated arduous and formidable pathways to apprehend the molecular mechanism of the development of skin diseases and identifying what is effective for better treatment. As a healthcare leader and educator, his visions on human health became an inspiration for the young generation. In our Entrepreneur Interview, we meet Jinmin Lee, CEO of isoi cosmetics. Having had extensive experience in marketing and pursuing the best ingredients in skin care products, she founded and grew isoi into one of the leading natural and clean product manufacturer.
New trends and issues of bio-health industry, as well as special report on global initiative of Korean leading CRO, C&R Research and W Medical Strategy Group’s partnership were featured in this issue.
World Korean Medical Journal was founded and published to feature the most relevant issues on the global healthcare arena while introducing the most influential and inspirational healthcare leaders. On this edition, we introduced first non-Korean healthcare leader in the cover story. While the traditional ‘ethnic focus’ has evolved to diverse figures, the core value of the content remains the same, “providing inspirational stories on healthcare.”
Many eminent experts shared their knowledge and insights as authors in this edition. I wish that our readers will find this exciting selection of articles to be helpful and pleasant.
DoHyun Cho, PhD
Editor in Chief
President & CEO of W Medical Strategy Group
Chairman of New York Health Forum
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