Joo Jongwoo, Director of Organ Transplantation Center at Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital, Wins 'Best Presentation Award'

Recognized at the 2025 Integrated Forum
of the Korean Association of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery

It was recently revealed that Joo Jongwoo, Director of the Organ Transplantation Center at Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital in Gyeongnam, received the Best Presentation Award at the 2025 Integrated Forum of the Korean Association of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, held at the Kim Daejung Convention Center in Gwangju.

Professor Joo Jongwoo's presentation site.

The award ceremony, which took place on September 13, was held as a nationwide integrated forum of the Korean Association of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, where the most outstanding clinical results of the year were presented. Professor Joo Jongwoo was selected as the recipient of the Best Presentation Award after being evaluated by domestic and international experts for his case involving a liver transplant patient with severe complications, based on surgical expertise, success rate, and the clinical significance of patient recovery.

The background of this award lies in the clinical cases of liver transplantation with severe complications performed by Director Joo Jongwoo, as well as the stable medical system of Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital, which has rapidly grown in a short period of time.

Since beginning liver transplantation in February 2023, Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital has performed a total of 62 liver transplant surgeries over two years and six months. An analysis of 56 cases (as of August 2025, including 29 living donor liver transplants and 27 deceased donor liver transplants) showed that the success rate for living donor liver transplantation was 100%, and about 80% for deceased donor liver transplantation, results comparable to those of major hospitals and university hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Notably, the results are significant because, among the 27 deceased donor liver transplant recipients in the initial two years, about 47% were in critical condition with liver-kidney failure and liver-lung failure, both of which greatly impact mortality, in addition to impaired liver function.

Director Joo Jongwoo stated, "This achievement is the result of support from the hospital's executive board, including the chairman, the dedication of the liver transplant team, and the close cooperation among the departments of emergency medicine, critical care medicine, and gastroenterology. As long as patients in need of liver transplantation and their families do not lose hope, we will do our utmost to find ways to provide help by any means possible."