Chang Kee-ryo facts for kids

Chang Kee-ryo (Hangul: 장기려; 14 August 1911– 25 December 1995) was a surgeon, educator, and philanthropist of South Korea. He established Gospel Hospital, in Busan, Korea, in 1951, during the Korean War. In 1979, he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award "for his practical, personal Christian charity and in founding the Blue Cross Health Cooperative in Pusan".

Achievements

Research

Chang has dissected a dead body of a patient who has cellulitis and sepsis. Through this experience, he researched seven more sepsis cases and published his paper "Rereoperitoneum Cellulitis" in The Journal of the Japanese Surgical Society. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Japan Nagoya University for publishing "Bacteriological Research on Appendictius and Peritonitis due to Appendicitis" on 20 September 1940. He then worked as the chief of the surgical section at Pyongyang United Christian Hospital. He published his paper titled "A Histo-Clinical Study of Myositis" in The Journal of the Japanese Surgical Society in April 1942. In 1943, he succeeded on "the resection of liver from a liver cancer patient".

After the independence of Korea, he worked as the principal and the chief of the surgical section at the Provincial Hospital of Pyongyang. In 1947, he received the Model Worker Prize from the North Korean government. On 4 December 1950, he came to South Korea in haste accompanying only his second son with the Korean army. In 1951, he founded the Clinic of Gospel with two other pastors. In 1952, he worked as a professor at College of Medicine, Seoul National University. In 1961, he was elected as the president of the Korean Surgical Society.

In 1968, he founded the Busan Gospel specialized School of Nursing Care and was the first president. In 1969, he wrote a Korean textbook, Surgery, with professor Kim Hee-Kyu and Hong Pil-Hoon. In 1974, he was the first president of the Korean Research Society of Liver. This society researched the liver and hepatobiliary surgery. It changed its name to Busan Research Society of Liver in 1982.

Chang's most important research achievements are his study of the liver. His surgical team succeeded in resecting a large amount of liver from a liver cancer patient for the first time in Korea. After eight more liver resection surgeries, they proved that liver resection is not a dangerous surgical procedure. Hepatobiliary surgery has developed in large measure due to their work. They presented about this surgery in June at the Academic Conference of the Korean Medical Society and received the Korean Academic Award on 1961.

Chang presented "A morphological research on intrahepatic blood vessels and biliary tract of Koreans" at the Academic Conference of the Medical Society of Korea in October 1960. This presentation was medically important since it provided the basis of hepatobiliary surgery.

Foundation of the health cooperative

Another major achievements of Chang is the foundation of the Blue Cross Health Cooperative. This act came from his volunteering spirit to poor people. The foundation of the cooperative provided the main basis of medical insurance in South Korea.

Chang won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for "his practical, personal Christian charity and in founding the Blue Cross Health Cooperative" in 1979.

Awards and recognition

• Achievement award at Health Care Day from the mayor of Busan
• Korean Medical Association scholarship award from the president
• 4th Health day camellia medal from the president
• Gold award from Korea Red Cross
• "Ramon Magsaysay" social service award
• 23rd Busan municipal cultural prize
• "Proud person of Seoul National University" prize
• National medal "mugunghwa medal" from the president
• Hall of fame of top scientists

Publications and related books

• Chang, Kee Ryo; Yang, Duck Ho/Park, Yong Hoon. (1963). "Clinical Study of Primary Cancer of The Extrahepatic Biliary Tract". Korean Cancer Association vol. 2, issue 2, pp. 75–90

See also

• Kosin University
• Gospel Hospital