Former KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong, Symbol of 'K-Quarantine'... Appointed as Seoul National University Professor

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the former Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency who oversaw domestic COVID-19 prevention efforts, has become a professor at her alma mater, Seoul National University College of Medicine.

According to Seoul National University Hospital on the 6th, Jeong was appointed as a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine and a clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital on the 1st. The contract period is six years, until August 2029.

As a clinical professor, based on the Seoul National University Fund Professor Operation Regulations and the Seoul National University Hospital Establishment Act, she will carry out student education, training, research, medical services, and other projects necessary for improving public health. Jeong will not be directly involved in patient care.

Born in 1965 in Gwangju Metropolitan City, Jeong Eun-kyeong graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine. She served as Director of the Disease Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare and as Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before becoming the inaugural Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, which was elevated to an independent agency in September 2020. She retired in May last year and has been working as a member of the Infectious Disease Policy Research Committee at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital since October of the same year.

Jeong played a symbolic role in COVID-19 prevention by leading domestic prevention policies for two years and four months after the first COVID-19 patient was confirmed in Korea in January 2020.

During the early outbreak when confirmed cases surged in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, she attracted attention by cutting her hair short to save time on washing it. She also reported the spread of COVID-19 and prevention status to the public daily at 2 p.m. briefings, where the noticeable increase in her gray hair was frequently captured on camera.

As a symbolic figure of the Moon Jae-in administration’s COVID-19 prevention policy, Jeong also faced criticism related to prevention policies. In May last year, shortly before her retirement, during a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, when asked if she had implemented "political quarantine," Jeong responded, "We conducted scientific quarantine."

Meanwhile, Jeong was recognized for her achievements and dedication to COVID-19 prevention by being named one of Time magazine’s "100 Most Influential People in the World" and BBC’s "100 Women of the Year" in 2020.