1,000 Interdisciplinary Experts to Be Trained in AI Diagnosis and Drug Development

Six Universities, Including Seoul National University, Selected to Foster Medical AI Talent

The government has selected six universities to foster key interdisciplinary talent necessary for technology development and commercialization in the medical artificial intelligence (AI) sector, with the goal of producing more than 1,000 experts through this initiative.

On August 6, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute announced this plan at the kick-off meeting and first council for the "Medical Artificial Intelligence (AI) Specialized Interdisciplinary Talent Development Project," held at the Nine Tree Premier ROKAUS Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

The universities selected for the project are Kyung Hee University, Seoul National University, Sungkyunkwan University, Ajou University, Chung-Ang University, and Hallym University. Each university will receive an annual budget of 1 billion won for five years through 2029. For this year, each school will receive 750 million won in support.

The selected universities will establish specialized courses in areas such as AI-based diagnosis and prediction, AI-driven drug, therapeutic, and medical device development, with participation from various departments including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and engineering to nurture multidisciplinary talent. In particular, to enable practical training in medical AI, the universities will set up collaborative systems with hospitals possessing medical data, as well as biohealth companies such as Naver and SK Bioscience. These collaborations will support student participation projects and internship programs, with the aim of training a total of over 1,000 experts over the next five years.

During the kick-off meeting and first council, participants shared the government's project direction and discussed cooperation measures such as mutual credit exchange for joint education programs and performance exchange meetings. In addition, they agreed to collaborate with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to provide lecture and educational data sets from other research and development projects.

Baek Youngha, Director of the Healthcare Data Advancement Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "Medical AI is a core technology that will fundamentally change the paradigm of the healthcare sector." He added, "As the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent with expertise in both AI and medical and pharmaceutical sciences is more important than ever, the government will continue to create a talent development ecosystem that connects education, research, and industry through ongoing communication and cooperation with the field."