A globally renowned breast cancer specialist, Director Nam-sun Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women poses in front of his operation room of the hospital.

Under the stewardship of a globally renowned breast cancer specialist, Director Nam-sun Paik, Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, now 10 years since its opening in March 2009, has been establishing itself as one of Korea’s representative breast cancer treatment centers. The gender-specific hospital looks to rise to a global breast cancer hospital leader as an increasing number of patients not only from Korea but also abroad are seeking treatment at the hospital.

Korea has a successful track record of having achieved excellent clinical outcomes on breast cancer patients all over the world: The cancer survival rate in 5-year and 10 year respectively stands at a whopping 91% and 84% on average, the highest in the world.

Even though Korean hospitals cannot lead in terms of basic studies, but they are on a roll on the back of outstanding clinical outcomes, so many foreign patients from abroad have increasingly looked to the Korean hospitals for treatment. For instance, Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women has made a quantum jump, more than a four-fold hike in 10 years since its opening.

Chairman Paik Nam-sun of the Korea Healthy Aging Society, concurrently director of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, and society members attend an autumn academic seminar at the Institute of Biomedical Industry at the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital last December.

Dr. Paik said Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, since Dr. Paik took charge of the head of the women’s hospital, has earned global recognition as his strategies to attract foreign patients paid off.

Under Dr. Paik’s stewardship, the cumulative figure of patients stood at a whopping 12,800 in 2018. In the past, the nationalities of foreign patents were limited to a few Asian countries.

The fame of the women’s cancer hospital has been continuously spreading, and now patients from 60 countries have visited the EUMC hospital to receive medical services, including those from America, Russia, UAE, China, Mongolia, countries in the Middle East, Kazakhstan, even South America countries etc.

In particular, patients from Middle Eastern countries, seeking treatment for breast, thyroid and gynecologic cancer, have returned home with good results after having their operation and medical services.

Director Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women poses with his hospital staff at a ceremony to open the new Ewha Womans University Hospital in Magok-dong, Western Seoul.

It’s no wonder Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women has been getting an enthusiastic reception from female cancer patients, particularly suffering from breast cancer, thyroid cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer. The hospital runs two female cancer centers on breast cancer and thyroid cancer, gynecologic oncology as well as Korea’s only one recurrent gynecologic cancer center.

How can the women’s hospital accomplish such a feat in a short a period of time?

The hospital’s good reception is owed to its differentiated medical treatment system and gender-specific services. The hospital has been recognized as a top-tier women cancer hospital as it has gained 1st grade for the fifth consecutive year in a feasibility evaluation of breast cancer hospitals by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service and won women’s pick cancer hospital grand prize for the nine years in a row.

Dr. Paik’s leadership and colleagues cooperation is also contributing to enhancing the hospital’s fame. Director Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women concurrently heads the International business for Heath Care Center, affiliated with Ewha Womans University Hospital, which has recently been reshaped into a mega hospital with 1,034 beds in a relocation site in Magok-dong, western Seoul.

He graduated from Seoul National University Medical College in 1973. Paik has been working in the cancer treatment field for more than 45 years, becoming one of the doctors who has shot to stardom in Korea and abroad.

Director Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women and his medical delegation pose with counterparts from Kazakhstan at the Medical Korea 2018 in Kazakhstan last Oct. 31.

In 2001 in America, he won the Man of year, and in 2006, he was elected as one of the 100 Top Professional Doctors in the field of Stomach and Breast Cancer by IBA, Cambridge, England. As far as medical practice goes, renowned breast cancer specialist Paik Nam-sun is one of the most active Korean doctors who crusades for the cause of spreading Korea’s medical practice and technology all over the world.

Dr. Paik has to split his tight work schedule to meet a flood of calls for invitational lecture-cum-operation sessions from around the world. Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women has become the subject of benchmarking for treating and caring female cancer cases.

The hospital was introduced as an example of the innovative hospital management at annual academic meeting of the Korean Hospital Association in 2013 and 2015. For instance, Dr. Paik was invited to a world hospital management forum that took place in Yangzhou, China, in November 2017.

At that time, Chinese wanted to hear Dr. Paik’s success story on hospital management as part of their efforts to take their cue from the Korean doctor. Doctors and medical staff from Tai He Hospital in Shiyan, China, toured the Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women and Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in Magok recently to learn of the hospital’s success.

Director Paik Nam-sun of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women. (Photo: NewsWorld)

Providing Medical Services Tailored to Meet Clients’ Needs

True to the catchphrase “Confidant, Convenient, Comfortable, Fast tract & Smart,” Dr. Paik said his hospital is sticking to the principles of providing qualified medical services in all areas, ranging from diagnosis to treatment and operation, with state-of-the-art medical equipment.

The hospital has a one-day, one-stop system of completing checks-up and diagnosis on the date of arrival, and infrastructure to finish up radiological medical science, diagnosis, and pathological checks within hours by optimizing efficiency.

The hospital is trying to comply with a principle of completing services, ranging from diagnosis to operation within a week, in sharp contrast to ordinary hospitals that don’t do as well.

Dr. Paik has enumerated the EUMC cancer center hospital’s strategies to differentiate itself from other big hospitals – confidence with hiring special medical guru-staffs, convenient system, comfortableness with medical environment, nurses and other staffs versed in foreign languages, plus a fast-track treatment process.

Director Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women speaks at a ceremony to open the International business for Heath Care Center, affiliated with Ewha Womans University Hospital, on May 27. Dr. Paik concurrently heads the center.

In particular, the hospital is striving to make it a convenient environment for patients from the Middle East. The hospital’s medical staff and other ordinary officials have undergone an educational program to get the better understanding of the Arabic culture Halal food and pray room as part of its efforts to spur the attraction of patients from the Middle East in earnest.

The hospital has been recognized for its contributions to the Korean medical industry as it was designated as an excellent medical institution for attracting medical tours by the Ministry of Justice in 2014 and it received prizes such as the health and welfare minister’s award in the category of attracting foreign patients at the 2015 Medical Korea & Global Health Care Awards ceremony.

Director Paik of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women poses with his medical staff from the International business for Heath Care Center at a ceremony to open the center.

Top-Tire Medical Staff Treating Body and Mind of Female Patients

The hospital’s medical staff boasts global competitiveness, including globally renowned breast cancer specialist Paik, Prof. Moon Byung-in, concurrently president of the Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Prof. Lim Woo-sung, Prof. Kwon Hyung-joo, and other breast cancer and thyroid cancer experts.

The hospital offers “Power Up,” a free, integrated educational program to provide total services to help surgical patients receive effective treatment and lead a healthy life. Under the program, diverse courses are offered ranging from prevention to understanding of treatment and psychological care.

Improving Quality of Female Patients’ Life through Advanced Operation Technologies

Breast cancer and thyroid cancer center medical staff, including Dr. Paik, is noted for improving the quality of female surgical patients’ lives by performing the breast preservation technology on 75 percent of breast cancer patients. The hospital also boasts an oncoplastic surgery on top of the breast preservation technology.

Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women has been recognized by the global academic community for developing the new onco-plastic surgery technology for treating breast cancer patients. Dr. Paik gave a keynote lecture to a global breast cancer conferences that took place in America and Europe recently.

In case of unmarried and pregnant patients, the female tumor center performs robotic surgeries to reduce their misgivings and side-effects. The number of robotic surgeries on female tumors the center has carried out stands at more than 1,000 cases.

The successful treatment of female cancers hinges on precise diagnosis, experienced operation, and thorough post-operation patient management. Medical staff versed in diverse clinical studies and operation experiences are devoting themselves to achieving a “medical treatment legend” in the female cancer treatment field.

The hospital is striving to reinvigorate the clinical study related to female cancer cases in mid- and long-term development strategies with the goal of securing global competitiveness.

The hospital is armed with a win-win regime designed to ensure a balance between study and medical treatment by upgrading research capabilities, based on accumulated field knowledge in cooperation with the Ewha Womans University Convergence Medical Research Institute, which was established in March 2012. The joint research involves the exploration of innovative medical operation technologies and R&DB connected with swift commercialization.

Dr. Paik, director of Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, said his hospital strives to continue to secure differentiated competitiveness from other cancer centers by improving the quality of medical services and conducting diverse changes and innovative activities to ensure the safety of patients.

He said his hospital does not rest on its laurels of becoming Korea’s representative female cancer hospital, but looking forward to rising to a globally renowned gender-specific cancer hospital in which patients from countries around the globe come in to receive treatment which is reliable.

In 1986, Dr. Paik was credited with conducting breast conserving surgery for the first time in Asia. He said even patients from abroad diagnosed of being too advanced to undergo an operation on breast cancer from their native countries have seen an improved outlook when they return home after being treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and then did breast conserving surgery. Dr. Paik’s team sometimes performs simultaneous breast reconstruction (TRAM,DIEP, Implant or ADM replacement) during cancer surgery, which gives patients’ satisfaction in terms of quality of life, an apparent magnet for attracting patients from OECD countries.

“No one believes that even a university hospital can handle all diseases well, and any hospital cannot have a competitive edge without full-fledged characterization and specialization,” Dr. Paik said.

He noted Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, albeit small in size compared to many large-sized cancer hospitals in Seoul, boasts a capacity to square off against any world-class hospital in terms of women’s cancer diagnosis, treatment and research.

The Singing Doctor

Dr. Paik says he will strive to make endless contributions to the development of the Korean medical field. His enthusiastic management capability is noteworthy.

He loves to sing jazz, read and write poems, play golf, learn foreign languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, Arabic so on. He still wants and try to communicate with patient in their native languages, so they can undergo treatment in a more amiable and familiar environment. Dr.Paik took to the stage to sing, in addition to inviting singers brought in to entertain patients during his inauguration ceremony.

He has held jazz performances five times with Korea’s first-generation jazz musicians Yoon Hee-jung, Lim Baek-cheon, Ryu Yeol, and German jazz group Saltacello. He was dubbed the “Namsun Sinatra,” named after the late Frank Sinatra, as he takes the stage to sing songs whenever he tours foreign countries to participate in medical workshops or give lectures on breast cancer.

A graduate of Seoul National University Medical College in 1973, Paik has been in the medical treatment field for more than 45 years, becoming one of the doctors who have shot to stardom in Korea and abroad.

 
Paik, who earned a doctorate at Seoul National University Medical College, Surgery Department, took up such positions as the president of the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences (KIRAMS) and the president of Konkuk University Medical Center and underwent a clinical doctor’s training course at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Hospital, the Dana-Farber Medical Center, which is affiliated with Harvard University, and National Cancer Center Institute, Tokyo, Japan.