Yonsei Medical Center Selected as 'World's Top 100 Cancer Research Hospitals' by Nature, the Only One in Korea

Yonsei University Medical Center announced on the 27th that it ranked 78th worldwide and 1st domestically in the '2023 Leading Global Top 100 Cancer Research Medical Institutions' selected by Nature, one of the world's top three scientific journals.

Nature evaluates papers published in SCI-level journals by university hospital professors worldwide in four fields: Biological sciences, Chemistry, Health sciences, and Physical sciences. It then aggregates papers published by researchers globally by field and ranks institutions based on the professors' contributions to the research.

Exterior view of Yonsei Medical Center Severance Hospital.
[Photo by Severance Hospital]

Yonsei Medical Center received a cancer paper contribution score of 17.94. This score is the sum of the contributions of Yonsei Medical Center professors to major papers evaluated by Nature. In addition, the number of cancer papers was 74, and the proportion of international articles on cancer papers was 42.3%.

From January 2022 to May 2023, in the field of biological sciences, Professor Han-Sang Kim of the Division of Oncology published research on tumor cells in Nature (IF 69.504), and Professor Sun-Young Ra of the Division of Oncology published research results in Nature Cell Biology (IF 28.213). In addition, many professors presented research achievements in 15 other papers.

Professor Kang-Young Lee of the Department of Colorectal Surgery published research on robotic surgery for rectal cancer prognosis in the Annals of Surgery (IF 13.787). Professor Sun-Young Ra of the Division of Oncology published research in The Lancet Oncology (IF 202.731), the top journal in oncology by impact factor, and research published in 41 journals involving Yonsei Medical Center professors was recognized for high contribution in the field of health sciences.

In the field of physical sciences, Yonsei Medical Center professors achieved research results in three excellent papers including Advanced Functional Materials (IF 19.924), and in chemistry, they published in two outstanding papers including Advanced Materials (IF 32.086).

Recently, research has continued to propose new treatment strategies such as new drug development. Professor Byung-Chul Cho of the Lung Cancer Center published research results on the combination therapy of amivantamab and lazertinib targeting EGFR-mutant lung cancer resistant to the third-generation targeted therapy osimertinib in Nature Medicine (IF 82.9). Additionally, Professors Jung-Yoon Lee and Sang-Woon Kim of the Gynecologic Cancer Center published research in Nature Communications (IF 17.69) showing that combining three drugs (olaparib, bevacizumab, pembrolizumab) can enhance treatment efficacy for recurrent ovarian cancer without BRCA gene mutations.

Efforts are also being made to develop surgical techniques. Professor Woo-Jin Hyeong of the Gastric Cancer Center developed surgical navigation that creates a 3D graphic screen by learning patient CT images, allowing confirmation of surrounding blood vessel distribution, thereby enhancing the completeness of robotic surgery for gastric cancer. Furthermore, fluorescent-guided resection was introduced by injecting fluorescent substances into the submucosal layer of the patient's stomach via endoscopy to visualize tumor location, providing surgeons with intraoperative decision-making criteria.

Yoon Dong-Seop, President of Yonsei Medical Center, stated, “Yonsei Medical Center is conducting research by securing numerous national clinical projects for new drugs such as immuno-oncology agents and is making bold investments for developing new drugs for intractable cancers. With the full-scale operation of the Heavy Ion Therapy Center for the first time in Korea, we expect to build the latest data for cancer patient treatment and further strengthen research capabilities based on this.”