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Professor Jae Wook Choi of Korea University Receives Recognition for

His Contribution to Education ODA

Contribution to health promotion and establishment of a higher education system for environmental health in Uzbekistan

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Professor Jae Wook Choi in the Department of Preventive Medicine of Korea University College of Medicine received recognition for his contribution to Education ODA 2019 receiving an award from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of Korea.

The ODA award is given to individuals who have contributed to elevating the stature of a university by proactively engaging in various international cooperation projects to promote it as a globalized university along with the academic development of the institution.

From 2016 to 2020, Professor Choi was a principal investigator for the Tashkent Medical Academy of Uzbekistan’s project on environmental health education for capacity development (April 2016 to May 2020, Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea). He received the award for his contribution to health promotion through the establishment of a higher education system for environmental health in Uzbekistan and community public health education.

Environmental pollution of the Aral Sea is an important issue in Uzbekistan as the international community pays more attention to it. Due to the absence of environmental health experts and the study of environmental health, however, it was difficult to make an improvement.

Through an “Capacity Enhancement of Environmental Health Science Education in Tashkent Medical Academy Project”, Professor Choi created the first department of Environmental and Human Health in Uzbekistan for introductory education of undergraduate level and specialized education of graduate level in 2017.

Professor Choi also helped to nurture environmental health experts and developed a sustainable teaching environment for environmental health studies in the country by supporting capacity building projects for promoting pedagogy and research methods.

In addition, Korea University and Uzbekistan Tashkent Medical Academy opened a collaborative research center to strengthen Uzbekistan's capacity for environmental health research, and actively conducted programs and joint research for nurturing young researchers to form friendly relations between Korea and Uzbekistan.

Professor Choi graduated from Korea University College of Medicine in 1988, became a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine in 1996 and served as Associate Dean for Research & International Affair of Korea University College of Medicine, and Director of External Cooperation & Funding of KU Medicine. He was the project manager

of the following ODA projects; Feasibility Study on the Establishment of Oruro Tertiary Hospital, Bolivia (2019);

Feasibility Study on the Establishment of Children Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan (2019); Feasibility Study on the

Establishment of University Hospital in Lao PDR (2016-2017); Feasibility Study for Medical Device Support Project in Sri Lanka (2019); Feasibility Study on the Construction of Hai Phong General Hospital, Vietnam (2015); the

Second Consultancy for Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Poverty Eradication Contribution (2016-2019). He

presently serves as Director of the Institute for Environmental Health of Korea University, President of the Korean

Society of Global Health, Chairman of the Korean Medical Association’s committee on cooperation between two Koreas and committee on international cooperation.

Evaluation of the Aging and Arrhythmia of Heart with Cardiac MRI

Arrhythmia may make severe cardiac dysfunction with irregular heart beats. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an arrhythmia

associated with aging in the developed countries. The incidence of AF has been increased with population aging also

in the Republic of Korea. In practice, the clinical manifestations of AF include palpitation, loss of consciousness,

angina, and even death. Therefore, in an aging society, we need correct evaluation of AF, and effective management

for it in basis of correct diagnosis.

The age is a mere number, which may have limitations in the understanding various changes of bodies with aging. In histology, the aging of heart may develop myocardial fibrosis as well as loss of myocytes commonly. Previous studies reported that the myocardial fibrosis in left atrium was associated with both development and progression of AF.

Many researchers and clinicians have studied the myocardial fibrosis in left atrium associated with AF. We also

believe that evaluation of myocardial fibrosis may help decide the effective management for AF.

With a recent development of technique, cardiac MRI enables detail visualization of myocardial fibrosis even in

patients with AF. The comprehensive evaluation by cardiac MRI includes the number, size, and location of myocardial fibrosis in left atrium. Thus, we used cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the relationship between AF and myocardial fibrosis of left atrium. According to the team’s study led by Professor Hwang Sung Ho of Korea

University Anam Hospital, we analyzed cardiac MRI of 195 patients who visited to Korea University Anam Hospital between 2017 to 2018 for the treatment of AF. From the study results, we found that the myocardial fibrosis of left

atrium near left inferior pulmonary vein was independently associated with the progression of AF regardless of

patients’ age. In summary, our study results suggest that 1) cardiac MRI may be a promising method in evaluation of

the myocardial fibrosis associated with progression of AF, and 2) the quantitative data from cardiac MRI have a

potential to help design effective health management systems by artificial intelligence.

Finally, we published our study results by the paper titled “Left Atrial Fibrosis Assessed with Cardiac MRI in Patients with Paroxysmal and Those with Persistent Atrial Fibrillation” in “Radiology” in July 2019.

pubmed link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31310173

Radiology. 2019 Sep;292(3):575-582. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2019182629. Epub 2019 Jul 16.

Unstoppable Progress of Korea University College of Medicine!

Korea University College of Medicine Ranked as One of the World’s Top 100 Medical Schools

Times Higher Education (THE), a UK-based provider of global higher education data, ranked Korea University College of Medicine 93th in the 2020 World University Rankings by subject: clinical, pre-clinical and health.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is one of the two world-renowned global performance tables that judge universities other than the QS World University Rankings based on its performance indicators: teaching, research, citations, international outlook, industry income. Korea University College of Medicine ranked 93th out of 775 medical schools. From 201-250^th in 2018 and 151-175^th in 2019, it achieved a dramatic improvement to 93^rd this year. This proves that Korea University College of Medicine has achieved its core mission: teaching, research, and international outlook of the highest quality.

The 2019 QS World University Rankings also ranked Korea University College of Medicine as one of the top 100 universities, 66^th, for the first time in Korea by the subject of Anatomy and Physiology. From 150^th in 2017 and 148^th in 2018, Korea University College of Medicine ranked 127^th this year by the subject of Medicine Related Studies, demonstrating a steep increase.

Korea University College of Medicine signed an agreement of cooperation with 55 institutions from 14 countries. It is an only member university from the country establishing the Global Alliance of Medical Excellence - a network of medical schools promoting innovative medical education and undertaking impactful research. More than 70 overseas medical students visited Korea University College of Medicine for clinical practicum and in order to promote its standing in the international community, it is engaged in various activities such as successfully hosting last April’s World Conference of the World Federation for Medical Education and an international symposium with medical students from six Asian countries.

Patients with Longer Duration of Hypertension Likely to Experience

Higher Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease

A Team led by Professor Jong-Il Choi of Korea University analyzed about 10 million participants

Hypertension for more than 5 years increases the risk of atrial fibrillation by twofold

Obesity added the risk increases by more than threefold

Hypertension and obesity are known risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF). A recent study, however, shows that

degree and duration of hypertension are important risk factors for new-onset AF.

Although patients with hypertension taking medication have an increased risk of AF, the underlying cause of the

association was unclear. The study, however, for the first time in the world demonstrates that hypertensive patients

taking medications have a higher risk of new-onset AF incommensurate with the duration of hypertension.

According to the team’s study led by Professor Jong-Il Choi of Korea University Anam Hospital (Professor Yun Gi

Kim and Professor Kyung-Do Han of College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea), patients with

hypertension for 5 years or more have a twofold increase in the risk of new-onset AF. If obesity is added, the risk

increases by more than threefold.

The team analyzed approximately 10 million participants who underwent a national health checkup from 2009 to 2017 to evaluate how various stages of hypertension and body weight status affect new-onset AF.

Hypertension was classified into 5 stages: non-hypertension (120/80mmHg), pre-hypertension (120~140/80~90mmHg), hypertension without medication, hypertension with medication <5 years, and hypertension with medication ≥5

years. Bodyweight status was classified into 5 stages according to body mass index (BMI): underweight (BMI<18.5 [kg/m2]), reference (18.5≤BMI<23.0), upper normal (23.0≤ BMI<25.0), overweight (25.0≤BMI<30.0), and obese (BMI≥30.0). The team used the waist circumference (WC) to complement the BMI, and it classified patients into 6 stages: WC <80.0 (cm), 80.0≤WC<85.0, 85.0≤WC<90.0, 90.0≤WC<95.0, 95.0≤WC<100.0, and WC≥100.0 for males and WC<75.0, 75.0≤WC <80.0, 80.0≤WC<85.0, 85.0≤WC< 90.0, 90.0≤WC<95.0, and WC≥95.0 for females.

Compare to a non-hypertensive group, the risk of new-onset AF was higher for pre-hypertension (120-140/80-90mmHg), hypertension without medication, hypertension with medication <5 years, and hypertension with

medication ≥5 years by 1.14, 1.39, 1.19, 2.34-fold.

The team also confirmed that hypertension and obesity acted synergistically; obese people with hypertension on

medication ≥5 had a threefold increase in the risk of new-onset AF (3.11-fold for WC and 3.36-fold for BMI).

“At the national level it is important to note that the duration of hypertension is directly related to new-onset of AF

which could be fatal, because as we enter into an aging society, the population with chronic diseases such as

hypertension will increase,” Professor Choi stated. “Early detection through accurate tests is important because AF is an obvious and direct cause of stroke and heart attack, yet, there is no way to completely prevent it.”

The paper “Impact of the Duration and Degree of Hypertension and Body Weight on New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation”

was published in Hypertension and is garnering international attention as it was chosen as the High Impact Paper.

pubmed link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31522617

Hypertension. 2019 Nov;74(5):e45-e51. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.119.13672. Epub 2019 Sep 16.

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