JW Jungwoo Founder Seongcheon Lee Gi-seok
Honored with JW Seongcheon Award
15 Years of Medical Volunteer Service in Bangladesh
Continues Steady Support After Returning
The Jungwoo Academic Welfare Foundation, a public interest foundation of JW Group, announced on the 17th that the recipients of the 11th JW Seongcheon Award are the married doctors Kim Dong-yeon (Global Care Internal Medicine, 49) and Ahn Mi-hong (Nuga Gwangmyeong Clinic, 49).
Dr. Kim Dong-yeon and Dr. An Mi-hong Couple Selected as Recipients of the 11th JW Seongcheon Award [Photo by Jungoe Academic Welfare Foundation]
The JW Seongcheon Award was established in 2012 by the late Lee Jong-ho, Honorary Chairman of JW Group, to inherit and develop the spirit and philosophy of "respect for life" of Seongcheon Lee Gi-seok, the founder of JW Jungwoo Pharmaceutical. Every year, it discovers medical professionals who silently dedicate and contribute in the shadows for the welfare of humanity and serve as role models in society, thereby widely promoting the importance of "respect for life."
The 11th awardees, Kim Dong-yeon and Ahn Mi-hong, are the first married couple among all previous recipients since the establishment of the JW Seongcheon Award. The couple has lived a life of dedication and sacrifice for over 15 years in Bangladesh, known as a medical desert, leaving behind honor and a stable life as doctors. In recognition of their practice of the spirit of respect for life through true medical skills in the harsh environment of Bangladesh, the Jungwoo Academic Welfare Foundation selected them as recipients of the JW Seongcheon Award.
Kim Dong-yeon and Ahn Mi-hong graduated from Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine and Yonsei University College of Medicine, respectively. The same-age couple, who nurtured a dream of medical missionary work, got married immediately after graduation in 1999 and trained as specialists in internal medicine and family medicine at Gangnam Severance Hospital.
Thereafter, to pursue their dream of medical missionary work, the couple headed to Bangladesh in 2003 at the young age of 29 and began their official activities as dispatched doctors under the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). During their two-year dispatch, the couple faced the harsh and dire medical conditions in Bangladesh. Witnessing patients suffering without proper treatment, they felt a strong sense of responsibility and mission as medical professionals.
Even after completing their dispatch, unable to ignore the medical environment in Bangladesh, the couple returned in 2007 to lead efforts to improve local medical conditions. Resuming medical activities at LAMB Hospital in the rural northwest region of Bangladesh, they were the only Korean medical professionals there at the time. The couple focused on emergency and critical care, which were the most vulnerable areas locally. At that time, LAMB Hospital was the only medical institution in the area where many severe emergency patients sought help, but treatment was limited due to an underdeveloped medical system.
Mr. Kim was the first to perform emergency thrombolysis and acute peritoneal dialysis in the 24-hour emergency room of LAMB Hospital. He also worked on establishing a systematic medical system by redefining medical education processes for local residents and nurses and creating new guidelines for specialized critical care. Ms. Ahn contributed to improving local health and medical environments by conducting the KOICA and community health project "Operation of Safe Delivery Facilities" and serving as an executive committee member for youth health projects in Badalganz, a rural village in Bangladesh. Furthermore, she participated as a female doctor in the vulnerable group management team at LAMB Hospital, counseling patients in need of medical and social advice, including local women suffering from domestic and sexual violence and minor patients.
After about 15 years of local medical activities, the couple returned to Korea in 2018 but did not give up their commitment to improving Bangladesh's medical environment. They conduct biannual fundraising activities and, in 2020, visited Bangladesh with their children as a whole family to tour local medical sites, maintaining a special affection for Bangladesh.
Mr. Kim also obtained a cardiology subspecialist qualification in 2020 after retraining in cardiology for another medical missionary activity, and Ms. Ahn completed a master's degree in medical humanities in 2021 to improve the poor medical environment in mission areas.
Lee Sung-nak, Chairman of the Seongcheon Award Committee and Honorary President of Gachon University College of Medicine, said, "The couple, doctors Kim Dong-yeon and Ahn Mi-hong, have devoted themselves to patients in Bangladesh who are marginalized due to poor medical conditions and have carried out various activities to improve the medical system. They are the most suitable candidates for the JW Seongcheon Award, which was established to inherit the spirit of respect for life, as they continue medical volunteer work in Bangladesh with their children."
This year’s JW Seongcheon Award ceremony is scheduled to be held on the 30th of next month at the JW Gwacheon Building in Galhyeon-dong, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi Province.
Meanwhile, to promote the long-term development and recognition of the award, the Jungwoo Academic Welfare Foundation changed the award’s name from Seongcheon Award to JW Seongcheon Award starting this year. Following the founding intention of the late Lee Jong-ho, Honorary Chairman of JW Group, the foundation plans to inherit and develop the value and philosophy of "respect for life" and expand its position as a leading medical volunteer award in Korea.
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